Our Ideas

I received a piece of direct mail advertising today that really missed the Olympic point.

Established to celebrate all that is good in humanity, and to find ways to unite people, nations and cultures through the power of sport, the Olympic movement is arguably one of the great achievements of international cooperation.

So I was intrigued to see a black envelope in the mail today with a large Hockey Canada logo emblazoned on the front. Unfortunately, its contents seem to contradict all the openness and the spirit of community of the Olympic ideals.

Presented by the Vancouver Board of Trade (of which I’ve been a member up until this year) and Concord Place, the brochure invites me to “enjoy an exclusive, limited-time offer” to “enjoy the 2010 Winter Olympics… in the middle of the action…. For the entire 17 days of the Olympics [I can] have [my] own reserved seating area for 8 guests. Complimentary gourmet food and beverages will be available while [I] take in all the action on screen and on the stage” in the Molson Canadian Hockey House.

And this can be mine—and I assume yours, too—in exchange for nothing more than $68,000! (Plus “applicable taxes and fees,” of course!)

It’s hard to know where to begin….

We could talk about Molson Canadian—’Canada’s beer’—and how this whole offer betrays their ethos of focusing on ‘real’ Canadians. We might comment on the fact that almost nothing in this piece adheres to the Olympic’s trade marks and brand standards. (The next sentence gives the correct name of February’s event; this brochure does not. Not even once.) Or we could complain about the commercialization of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games—something that’s clearly a concern for many Vancouver residents and British Columbians, but that’s rarely so blatantly expressed.

But in the end, I think it’s most important to say this: Molson Canadian Hockey House is an ill-conceived cash-grab. At a time when Canadians and Vancouverites are hurting, when unemployment is on the rise, and when economic recovery is uncertain at best, could the Board of Trade, Concord Place and Molson not think of something more responsible to do with their marketing dollars?

In fact, let me put that question another way: Will Hockey Canada, the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Vancouver Board of Trade, Concord Place and Molson put the dollars they raise to good use after the Closing Ceremony?