It seems to me that it’s only at about 1:20 that this ad even begins to approach being persuasive. I know the consensus on these issues is in a different place than it is in the States, but it seems to me a mistake to open the ad bitching, feeling superior to the people in the government, and talking about how it’s not even worth debating whether the arts are worth supporting.
Fair point, but I think the video does a pretty cohesive job of encapsulating the general dismay that the artists here are going through after having just been given word of a 97% Provincial funding cut. It’s aimed not at the government nor the general public, but at the typically complacent arts community with an eye towards galvanizing them into action. As such there won’t be any debate on the worth of arts support.
I think it’s more of a mistake to end the ad trying to be funny. I’m not sure what was they were trying to achieve by talking about the 80s and MacGuyver. Kind of irrelevant.
It seems to me that the slow fade-out at the end was communicating to the viewer the message of “Sorry I said anything, I’ll shut up now”. That form of argument, if you can call it that, is a totally typical Canadian way of trying to communicate; the type of communication this ad should be trying to put an end to. To fight this, you have to hit way harder than what’s being said here.
Simon Ogden 
It seems to me that it’s only at about 1:20 that this ad even begins to approach being persuasive. I know the consensus on these issues is in a different place than it is in the States, but it seems to me a mistake to open the ad bitching, feeling superior to the people in the government, and talking about how it’s not even worth debating whether the arts are worth supporting.
Fair point, but I think the video does a pretty cohesive job of encapsulating the general dismay that the artists here are going through after having just been given word of a 97% Provincial funding cut. It’s aimed not at the government nor the general public, but at the typically complacent arts community with an eye towards galvanizing them into action. As such there won’t be any debate on the worth of arts support.
I think it’s more of a mistake to end the ad trying to be funny. I’m not sure what was they were trying to achieve by talking about the 80s and MacGuyver. Kind of irrelevant.
It seems to me that the slow fade-out at the end was communicating to the viewer the message of “Sorry I said anything, I’ll shut up now”. That form of argument, if you can call it that, is a totally typical Canadian way of trying to communicate; the type of communication this ad should be trying to put an end to. To fight this, you have to hit way harder than what’s being said here.
Did he actually say we were going to be breaking into cars?