We Bid Adieu To The Canadian Tire Guy

2006_3_10canadiantire.jpgTorontoist missed this because it was buried in the business section a couple of days ago but Canadian Tire is dropping the boring as dry wall Canadian Tire couple! The female half of that couple was innocous, for one thing, she was hardly there but the bearded Canadian Tire Guy seems to have inflamed the anger of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

To quote TV columnist John Doyle in today's Globe (sadly behind the Globe's subscriber firewall):

He represented so much to so many people. He was the utterly unacceptable face of the mild-mannered Canadian male. He was a stalwart symbol of the neutered, new male. He was everybody's idea of the irritating neighbour. He was the smiling, smug, know-it-all guy with the cool tools and the always-working, automatic garage-door opener.

Googling Torontoist found an unhealthy amount of rants reciting why TCTG just got under people's skins. With that in mind though we leave you with this Maclean's article on our most hated ex-spokesperson. Good riddance.

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Comments (9) [rss]

That dude may be annoying, but a friend of mine is an agent in town and says he makes mad coin just off that ad. Like, six figures a year for each year of the campaign. I'd be willing to be disparaged -- hell, hated, even -- by half of Canada for that kind of money.

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CT Guy goes to my gym. Dude could throw me across a room.

I actually became fond of Canadian Tire Guy because of all the hatred he apparently stirs up. Godsped, CTG.

They changed ad agencies a while ago so this has been known for a while now.

Love or hate either of them I don't think there has been an ad campaign as effective in getting Canadians talking and thinking about a brand since the Molson I Am Canadian Ads. They were structured pretty much the same way; a character representative of a Canadian archetype facing Canadian problems, solving them with Canadian products. As soon as Molson dropped Mclaren McCaan as its ad agency and the I Am Canadian campaign with it their market share went from an all time high to quickly falling through the floor. It will be interesting to see if Canadian Tire suffers a similar fate.

Is he really more hated than the Keith's beer spokesperson?

Probably not since the Keith's guy got arrested for kiddie porn.

Chad, what is the guy like, personality-wise? I've been intrigued by the mention in the Macleans article that he has a no-interview clause in his contract. I'm trying to figure out if he's shy or kinda ashamed of this gig (albeit in an ashamed-all-the-way-to-the-bank way), or is full of himself enough to think that he's a bonafide Star?

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I think he worked at West Camera on Queen. He may have to go back there without the Cdn Tire money flowing in.

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