Picture 1 I Dont Know Who Im More Embarrassed For

Pepsi or The Oympics.

I watch a lot of Hockey Night in Canada. When you have no cable and you have to stream all of your media from a laptop screen, the options are quite limited. Because of this I’m forced to endure a ton of terrible ad campaigns and embarrassing ideas that come out of consistently weak creative market (my gripes with CBC are well document here).

Well here’s the latest and possibly the worst of the bunch. If you watch Hockey Night in Canada, then you can probably tell where I’m going with this already. Pepsi in conjunction with Facebook is running a campaign for Canadian hockey fans to “come up with Canada’s next cheer,” for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

I’ll give you a second to swallow your dinner from last night.

First of all, the concept:

Cheers cannot be planned. Cheers, in their most primal form, are sounds that are made to encourage a particular side. If you plan a cheer, it is no longer a cheer, it is a lame, rehearsed chant that sounds like it belongs in a cult. Cheers are about excitement and being in the moment.

Second, the Sponsors:

Pepsi is a giant corporation that basically pumps over-caffeinated battery acid throughout the veins of pop culture. I’m not criticizing Pepsi as a company, just their involvement because I would expect better. With recognizable names attached to their product, a few catchy tunes from past campaigns and some hugely expensive ads, Pepsi should be really embarrassed with the Canadian Cheer idea.

Facebook you can’t really blame because they are acting as a facilitator to this tragedy, but if I was the dude on the other end of the Facebook and saw how my service was being used, I’d consider pulling it.

Finally, the reason:

Being a sad Canadian hockey fan for my entire life, I am one of those kids that really is putting all of the eggs in the basket with our 2010 Olympic Hockey Team. We’ve never won a Gold medal on our own soil and I’m actually from Vancouver. There is a TON of pressure on not only the players to perform in February, but also the fans in showing support. Not only will the players be on a global stage, but so will the fans in the stands. If we stand up during a game to cheer on the team, how do you think the world is going to view us if we start chanting some ridiculous cheer made up from Pepsi and Facebook? Here’s my solution – BOYCOTT THE CHEER. I would assume that at some point during a game there will be an ad or a signal on the jumbo-tron that will ask people to join in on the cheer. Instead of following along and bowing the mighty Pepsi and Facebook, lets come up with something better on the spot.