This MTV Canada promo video uses a TTC streetcar as a prop. I’m torn about whether this is something I should laugh off or be offended by. I do have a sense of humour, but with the bad rap the TTC has fostered lately, a lot of people would like to see this actually happen. I wish they used a Hummer instead.
I’m sure MTV received permission to do this — but knowing the TTC’s reaction to negative publicity (see the anagram map fiasco) I’m surprised this clip is even on the air. Feel free to tell me I’m being uptight.
21 comments
Laugh off or be offended by … I’m simply confused. I don’t get the point of the spot.
Gloria > That’s my confusion, too. I’m not sure what to make of it.
mtv has some slick, albeit confusing ads. i can’t imagine whose idea this was.
however, i compare it to the thousands of films over the years that have assailed new york’s symbols. think king kong + the empire state building, planet of the apes + the statue of liberty, and in many cases, the whole city.
but yeah, i don’t get it either.
Yeah, I’m thinking like a senior citizen.
I think it means “MTV is here, Motherfuckers”.
Talk about getting rid of streetcars. It’s funny and offending at the same time.
lol… okay, from a teen’s perspective, it means that MTV is taking over Toronto. But yea, everytime i see i think wtf
I thought “in your face” became cliche years ago. yawn.
Damn, i must be getting old, because i not only don’t get it or how it makes you want to watch MTV, i don’t appreciate the curshing of the Rocket.
I’d be really interested in if the TTC knew what they were getting into with MTV, because they has to have been approved, even the actor is wearing a TTC coat with the logo visible.
Add one more for not getting it.
(and not liking it)
I have one word for this ad: Meh. MTV’s done better.
Four words. I have four words.
I think I’m the only one who doesn’t find it offensive (either that and the fact I don’t like to read back the old posts.) but it was hilarious. They could have done worse. THey could have done stuff to the CN Tower, or the subway.
Some of you guys need happy pills. If Much Music did it you’d be praising their linking of transit to youth culture.
As someone who gets the 504 some days I’d be happy to see an MTV sign land on the streetcar fleet as long as they were replaced by something with decent ventilation, not to mentioned low-floored which would mean disabled people wouldn’t have to wait till 2025 or whatever the derogation from the Ontarians with Disabilities Act lets TTC get away with.
Wild guess: Could they be using the streetcar as a symbol of their rival, MuchMusic? That’s the kind of the stretcar that runs past the CHUM building on Queen.
Maybe the TTC should fight back with their own ad. It could show one of the new hybrid buses flattening the MTV logo, with a tag line like “Make way for something less noisy.”
Why would you assume MTV got permission from the TTC?
The TTC logo on the man’s jacket, or use of the streetcar?
I’m not offended at all. All of MTV’s spots have been trying to use cliche Canadian imagery (others have canoes, bears, moose, etc). Their main promo thing is a stylized cartoon of someone on a bike with a streetcar dinging by. In ad speak MTV is trying to Canadianize itself and associate the brand and logo with Canada. If anything I think it’s a good sign for both the streetcars and Toronto that MTV is considering them a symbol that is clearly Torontonian and Canadian.
All of this is in line with what MTV has been doing for 25 years now — weird things that don’t make sense, for adults or 15 year olds, but 15 year olds just say “yeah!” and don’t think about it too much. Part of why MTV was successful in the beginning is that the same rules didn’t apply to them — rules of making sense, and etc. Or at least they decided not to follow rules — which eventually made a lot of money, changed the real rules, and influenced the culture in hundreds of big and small ways.
Kevin is on to something though — and it’s a good thing — our icons (Red Rockets, CN Tower, skydome even) stop being wholly “Toronto’s” in the same way the Empire State Building belongs partly to NYC and party to myth and imagination of people everywhere — so that when King Kong climbs it, or Godzilla destroys Madison Square Gardens, we all know what that means. It’s good to see the streetcars playing in that field, a bit. It’s a sign of what Toronto means to everybody else.
I do not find this that offensive. Not that creative or interesting either. I do like the concept of Streetcars being iconic images of Toronto.
The ad campaign I find offensive is Chevrolet spray painting city sidewalks to promote their new line of vehicles.
http://aquaticexistence.blogspot.com/2006/07/this-really-annoys-me.html
If the TTC person responsible for the go-ahead of this ad is who I think it is, someone should seriously consider making “Blame Moscoe” t-shirts.
I think the rest of Canada would bristle at the idea of Toronto’s transit system being a symbol of Canada. They hate it when we decide that stuff.
that was cool. i think thats the only point to it. god, its to look at not analyze.