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February 22,
2002
Dear
Sir or Madam,
This
is to follow up on our invoice dated January 10th.
I
chose yours, of the many brands on the market, for product
placement in my new novel because of your advertising “Anthem”
campaign, featuring the rant of the Joe Canadian who said
what we’ve all been thinking.
The
twenty to forty million that you made as a result of this
campaign was impressive, even when you take into account the
large fee the ad wizards at Bensimon
Byrne D'arcy received. But even more
impressive was the bold move to take on the function of what
has traditionally been that of our elected leaders – to unify
us all with a rousing nationalist speech. More and more, private
businesses are taking over what have traditionally been public
roles, and this zeitgeist-tickling campaign showed that you
were of the cutting edge of this trend.
Consequently,
when I was writing about an art gallery in the year 2036,
I named it the Molson Gallery. The synergy between sponsor
and artist gives the advertising trade a constant flow of
dynamic and stimulating images, and the artist has a place
to hang his art. None of the angst-ridden worries of “selling
out” that plague this difficult age of transition to corporate
control. Art is the new hockey.
And
this kind of art patronage already exists now, in a form –
du Maurier has set up a granting system which they advertise
vigorously, but that might have something to do with getting
around the laws that prevent cigarette companies from advertising.
Talking
about interfering government, you might want to take advantage
of my offer sooner rather than later – I imagine the cigarette
industry never saw it coming, either. Some bleeding heart
will get a bee in their bonnet about alcohol being involved
with 10% of all deaths in Canada – or some bean counter will
start harping on about how alcohol costs Canada more than
$7.5 billion annually – and even the branding geniuses at
Bensimon Byrne D'arcy will be hard pressed to spin
that to your advantage.
Sincerely,
Jim
Munroe.
Letters
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