Protesting Against the Canadian Seal Hunt With Heavy Metal: Peta2 and Springer & Jacoby Create "The Canadians"

Protesting Against the Canadian Seal Hunt With Heavy Metal: Peta2 and Springer & Jacoby Create "The Canadians"

HAMBURG, Germany, March 5/PRNewswire/ -- In the spring of 2008, while Canadian seal hunters swarmed from place to place and brutally killed 300,000 seals, the fictional metal band "The Canadians" were touring Germany on their "Killing Seals Tour 2008." The goal was to make primarily young people aware of the bloody events taking place in Canada - with the "Killing Seals Tour 2008" reflecting the real Canadian seal-hunting season.

In Germany, there were posters made for the tour and advertisements appeared in magazines such as "Rolling Stone" and "Metal Hammer," as well as Edgar Cards in clubs and randomly distributed stickers. All these had a single purpose: to raise awareness of the "Killing Seals Tour 2008."

Prominent tour partners included MTV Europe and rock n' roll merchandiser EMP. Their young user group (animal protection organization PETA2's target group) thought "The Canadians" were a real hard rock band.

Just like a real band, they had a MySpace profile (http://www.the-canadians.com), which was highlighted in every piece of communication. Fans quickly learned what was really at stake:

Active protest to stop the gruesome slaughter directed at the Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Tom Rideout.

This website quickly became the center of the protest. "Fans of "The Canadians" weren't screaming hysterically like groupies though, but signing petitions against the murder of seals, all of which were sent to Rideout by e-mail!

Then the second phase began. The tour literally promoted itself. Commemorative tour shirts went on sale and prominent personalities appeared wearing them, such as renowned MTV presenter Nova Meyer Henrich and many familiar rock bands.

Rock magazines and radio stations, such as "Visions" and "Metalhammer," reported about and discussed the band from Canada.

The tour trailer ran on MTV and VIVA's late programs and became the most hated YouTube video in Canada. The band was the "Musicians of the Week" on MySpace, was "Event of the Month" on MTV and played the world's biggest stage: the Internet!

There was much discussion, commentary, support, loathing and also praise on the internet.

The "Killing Seals Tour 2008" officially ended after four weeks. About 300,000 seals were killed once again, but PETA2 and Springer & Jacoby succeeded in making sure that over 25 million people around the world were watching.

Canadian fisheries minister Tom Rideout has since stepped down. There's not much doubt about the reasons...

The fictional "The Canadians" now real & live: in April at the Art Directors Club (ADC) in Berlin!

Rockumentary and commercial spot at http://www.sj.com/presse/downloads/

          Responsible Staff at PETA2:     Jobst Eggert, Editor in Chief, PETA Deutschland e.V.     Responsible Staff at Springer & Jacoby:     Creation:     Eskil Puhl, Creative Director  

          Please direct inquiries to:     Springer & Jacoby Werbeagentur GmbH & Co. KG     Gerhofstr. 1-3     20354 Hamburg     Germany     Sandra Atwell     E-mail: sandra_atwell@sj.com     Tel. +49(0)4035603-442     Fax +49(0)4035603-344  

Source: Springer & Jacoby

Please direct inquiries to: Springer & Jacoby Werbeagentur GmbH & Co. KG, Gerhofstr. 1-3, 20354 Hamburg, Germany, Sandra Atwell, E-mail: sandra_atwell@sj.com, Tel. +49(0)4035603-442, Fax +49(0)4035603-344

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Profile: International Entertainment