11/05/24
May 28, 2007
Here's a BC Lions promotional campaign: featuring excellent shots of fans of the other CFL teams in various stages of anguish.
posted by chicobangs to football at 06:56 PM - 30 comments
The beret on the Alouette fan! Hilarious!
posted by grum@work at 08:06 PM on May 28, 2007
Three thoughts:
- Terrific, absolutely terrific.
- "I'm experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu," said the Sens fan living in Toronto.
- I always thought there was something vaguely Russian about the B.C. Lions.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:08 PM on May 28, 2007
Note to Pantheon: ordered list display is not consistent from preview to post. D'oh!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:13 PM on May 28, 2007
The Alouette fan all around is hilarious. The facial expression, the clutching, the beret. The best of the lot.
posted by apoch at 08:20 PM on May 28, 2007
The Alouette fan is a horrible, racial stereotype. A beret? The beatnik beard? The pasty skin? The frail, girl like arms? They might as well have had him eating a frog. (j/k)
posted by BlueCarp at 09:23 PM on May 28, 2007
The Alouette fan is a horrible, racial stereotype. "French" isn't a race. It's a nationality. It's like showing a fat American, or a Canadian with a hockey stick and no front teeth, or a Brit with big ears and terrible teeth.
posted by grum@work at 10:03 PM on May 28, 2007
The pose on the Allouette fan would suggest that he had just taken a shot to a tender part of the anatomy. Will he sing "Oh Canada" soprano from now on? I think I'm falling in love with the Edmonton fan.
posted by Howard_T at 10:07 PM on May 28, 2007
Is this where I get to pull a Bishop? (I'm from Montreal, and my native tongue is French.) The Alouettes fan wasn't funny for me. I'm not outraged, just mildly disappointed. I thought it was lazy, and that this kind of dated cliché no longer got the cheap laughs from the rest of Canada. Looks like I was wrong, since you're all eating it up.
posted by qbert72 at 10:52 PM on May 28, 2007
I used to sit beside that guy in red at the Stamps games and that girl from Edmonton used to come on the bus for the Labour Day Classic. There is a little bit of discreet and not-so-discreet regional bashing in each one of those ads, the Alouettes fan isn't so unique.
posted by thetakeoverbeast at 11:35 PM on May 28, 2007
There's a lot of stereotyping of cities in the photos, the Montreal fan is just the most obvious. Like the Saskatchewan fan is an old farmer and the Edmonton fan is an over-madeup, over-weight, trashy mall chick.
posted by Mayor Curley at 05:34 AM on May 29, 2007
There's a lot of stereotyping of cities in the photos, the Montreal fan is just the most obvious. Agreed. I just think these pictures would have been funny enough without it. On the other hand, it's the advertisement equivalent of trash talk, so some offensiveness is required, I guess. My reaction was more like "They couldn't resist putting a beret on the Montreal guy, couldn't they?". Then I came here, and everyone was laughing about the beret. And that's the part I just don't understand.
posted by qbert72 at 07:16 AM on May 29, 2007
I think I'm laughing at the beret on the Montreal fan BECAUSE it's so over the top. To be honest, I would have expected a cowboy hat on the Calgary fan and a snooty business suit on the Toronto fan (or an empty seat).
posted by grum@work at 08:45 AM on May 29, 2007
Cliches are pretty much par for the course in this kind of thing, but what really cracked me up was the variety of pained expressions on the faces of these fictitious fans...
posted by Venicemenace at 08:51 AM on May 29, 2007
Then I came here, and everyone was laughing about the beret. And that's the part I just don't understand. Most of us aren't Canadian-- I (an American) got it because I saw recognized the most obvious stereotype (the Quebecer/Frenchman) and extrapolated. Beyond the Quebecois stereotype, individual Canadian stereotypes don't mean much to an outsider until you think hard-- how much international press does Calgary get, really? So everyone is laughing at the Quebecer because it's the only one we get natively, and it's second-hand at that. I think local stereotyping is generally not well known outside its country of origin, but I get most of them at least vaguely and admire the cheek. I'd like to see this done for American football teams. As someone who grew in up Maine, I think the dude in a beret should be replaced by a guy in a speedo, and there should be an insinuation that he's a careless driver. That's a Quebecois stereotype that I get!
posted by Mayor Curley at 09:37 AM on May 29, 2007
Are these all stereotypes of various parts of the country? Yes. Is there malice in them? Hell, no. They could have been mean about it, but if you really find these ads offensive, you (a) don't live in Vancouver, and (b) you don't have a sense of humor. If someone put a pothead Lions fan with scraggly Stephen Stills hair and a snowboard doing exactly the same thing into the set, it would then be complete, and it would be hilarious. Relax, brah. Take a hit off of this, relax and float downstream.
posted by chicobangs at 10:01 AM on May 29, 2007
I think the dude in a beret should be replaced by a guy in a speedo, and there should be an insinuation that he's a careless driver. You see, that would at least be based on reality. But a beret? It's a tired cliché for the French, and we're not even French. We just speak (a bastard version of) their language. if you really find these ads offensive, you (a) don't live in Vancouver, and (b) you don't have a sense of humor I suppose you're talking to me. I find these ads funny. I find some of the cultural stereotypes clumsy and lazy, and I don't think they make the ads funnier. The beret one is the worst, and it hits home for me. But I wouldn't have mentioned it at all if some Rest-of-Canadians had not proclaimed it "hilarious". This, I find disheartening. Relax, brah. Take a hit off of this, relax and float downstream. Yeah, sure, whatever.
posted by qbert72 at 10:31 AM on May 29, 2007
Oh, never mind. I'm sorry, qbert. I thought it was funny. I try to be sensitive to these things, and I tried to engage, seeing as I haven't been around here lately except to read the flamewars and think, I have nothing of substance to offer to these discussions. And I misread the tone of these pictures. I mistakenly thought I'd seen merit in something so obviously racist, and then I compounded my crime by sharing it with Spofi. It's easy to say I condemn racism, but then I laugh at the first Quebecois one-note Sambo joke that came down the pike. What an ass I am. I apologize, not just for the effect this has had, but for thinking this post had any merit in the first place. There is no sarcasm whatsoever in this comment, qbert. I am dead fucking serious. If you're offended as a Quebecois, or an Albertan or a Hamiltonian, then I apologize for posting this. Clearly, I've been away from Canada too long, and should just shut the hell up.
posted by chicobangs at 10:57 AM on May 29, 2007
It's all right, chico. I'm not offended by the ad itself, or you posting it. I'm just disheartened by the response it gets. And that's clearly an intra-Canada, politically-laden discussion that doesn't belong here. No harm done. I was slightly miffed by your "Aw come on, just get over it" comment, but you've more than made up for it. And these rifts actually help me understand just a little bit better the plights of minorities a lot worse off than us French-Canadians.
posted by qbert72 at 11:16 AM on May 29, 2007
I'm in qbert's corner here, totally.1 As a former NYC resident, a graduate of Colgate University, and a Yankees fan, steady doses of same lame cheap shots over and over can get really tiresome and frustrating. It's bad enough when it's a mindless passing comment, but when it comes from somebody who actually had the opportunity to put some thought into it (and even worse got paid for it), when you see the same easy, lazy, tired and played remarks and stereotypes you're likely to get from your next forwarded e-mail -- well, the eyes get sore from rolling. If the joke still makes you laugh, as qbert said, "whatever." Telling the target to lighten up, it's just a joke, only demonstrates a failure to appreciate what it's like to hear a barb shot in your direction for the umpteenth time. Somtimes it's the straw that breaks even the broad shouldered, and some leeway should be allowed for the weary abused to express their frustration.2 I also echo qbert's observation about more unfortunate minorities and anyone else who absorbs this kind of abuse (and worse) with more hatred behind it. 1Not at all at chicobang's expense or by way of piling on somebody who is exhibiting obvious contrition over his stance -- I'm talking more to those who may not be so inclined to such consideration. 2This sounds a lot more like grinding my own axe than intended. I'm empathizing with qbert. It's not about me, it's about him and like-minded Montrealers. I swear.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 12:06 PM on May 29, 2007
Yeah, qbert, whatever. Harm was obviously done, otherwise you wouldn't have reacted the way you did. Right? Don't come back off the high horse after beating me up for posting this thing and tell me no harm was done. If harm wasn't done, you wouldn't have said anything. Again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm the biggest racist asshole in the world for posting an ad campaign which happened to show a guy in a floppy hat. Fuck. Seriously, I'll only post all-athletes-do-steroids and all-nonwhite-people-get-arrested shit from here on in, okay? That seems to be what Spofi has become, and my completely misguided attempts to even try something different make me look like Ernst fucking Zundel. I'm very, very sorry that I laughed at a racist joke. That's the last time I'll apologize. Pantheon, please delete this thread.
posted by chicobangs at 12:11 PM on May 29, 2007
OK, this seems to be escalating mostly from miscommunication. Email on its way, chico.
posted by qbert72 at 12:25 PM on May 29, 2007
This is likely way off base, but remember how, on the television show Taxi, Latka and Simka were from different ethnic groups in the same country (mountain people and flatlanders, if I'm not mistaken, each with a deep hatred for the other), yet were able to fall deeply in love with each other nonetheless? Ah, Andy Kaufman, thanks for that!
posted by Spitztengle at 12:49 PM on May 29, 2007
I'm just shocked that they were able to talk Steve Buscemi into portraying the Hamilton fan.
posted by holden at 02:15 PM on May 29, 2007
I'm just amazed that we are able to get Ernst Zundel's name into a Spofi post. I had him as # 3 on my list of people whose names would never appear on Spofi.
posted by tommybiden at 03:53 PM on May 29, 2007
Is Zundel a legitimate cause for a Godwin invocation?
posted by DrJohnEvans at 04:47 PM on May 29, 2007
Only #3 Tommy? What were #'s 1 and 2?
posted by THX-1138 at 04:57 PM on May 29, 2007
Only #3 Tommy? What were #'s 1 and 2? Sorry THX, if I said what they are, then I would have used them in a post. I have to protect that information as though it is a State Secret. Don't worry, I will acknowledge their status if I ever see them here.
posted by tommybiden at 05:02 PM on May 29, 2007
this may be the first time i've seen something posted on WFMU's blog show up on SpoFi.
posted by goddam at 03:37 PM on May 30, 2007
Oh yeah, right. I'm so stupid, stupid, stupid.
posted by THX-1138 at 04:09 PM on May 30, 2007
The Hamilton and Winnipeg ones especially just slay me.