We’re Definitely Not in Kansas Anymore.
This past weekend was all about colour. Technicolour. One of the most famous scenes in movie history is when in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy steps out of her little house after it’s been swept into a twister and set down in Oz, and all of a sudden, her somber black and white world is a vivid, eye-popping technicolour rainbow. And hence the famous line about Kansas.
This past Saturday and Sunday was Pride Toronto. An estimated 1.3 million people or more from all walks of life celebrated diversity, freedom, and feather boas along Yonge and Church Streets. I hadn’t seen Pride in a few years, and had forgotten about the sheer magnitude of it all. All along the old townhouses on Yonge, hundreds of thousands of youngsters festooned the rooftops, rivers of tourists moved along the sidewalks beneath, and there were some of the most outlandish and creative costumes I’ve seen in years. Freedom isn’t freedom unless you’re free to wear a ten-foot high magenta ostrich feather headdress. I’m not kidding.
And for our client Renova, famous for making coloured toilet paper and scented facial tissues, this was a perfect opportunity to launch. Five extraverted young men and women stood outside the Loblaws superstore at Maple Leaf Gardens and at Dundas Square and gave out thousands of samples of the orange facial tissue packs (scented with citrus) and ‘Pop Art’ postcards that sported the tagline: “You’re not in Kansas anymore.”. Our gal Gina posted many of the photos on the Renova Facebook page.
And on July 1, we celebrated another colour: Canada Day, the red and white. Fitting that Canada Day and Pride are adjacent, as it’s a uniquely and quintessentially Canadian thing to celebrate diversity with such flare, and then celebrate national pride with quiet dignity. I do love Canada.