Penguins in Canada?
 

Here's a stupid question.

I've seen ads for Air Canada showing a penguin and the text "Pretty cool up here, eh?" It's also on their web page.(http://www.aircanada.com/specials/newyear_us/images/en/page_header_us.jpg)

I thought penguins were strictly a southern hemisphere thing. Are there penguins which live in Canada? And if so, where?

cnk

there are penguins in Canada but they all
live in zoos. There may be penguins farther
noth in the Yukon or NWT but I can't say for
sure.

Check out Pittsburg sometime http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

The keyword is *cool* penguins. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

They should show polar bears...which are found on our toonies.

The things you learn in this Forum when you're working on your kids' computer loaded with educational software!

Penguin, common name for flightless, aquatic birds of the southern hemisphere. The name penguin originally was applied to the now extinct great auk of the North Atlantic, a large flightless, black and white bird with an upright stance. Similar flightless birds were discovered subsequently in the southern hemisphere, and they were also called penguins, a name that is now restricted exclusively to these birds.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Did a quick Google search and found this on the New England Aquarium Site:

"Penguins do not live in the Northern Hemisphere because they can't get there.
The warm water belt at the equator doesn't provide enough food for them to make
the trip northward."

http://www.neaq.org/community/seabit...ers/00dec.html

Odd then, that somebody took a picture of a penguin in Argentina or somewhere and then sold it to Air Canada's ad agency without anybody saying anything like "Hey, nice picture but, uh, we don't have those in this country."

cnk

Oh oh!!! False advertising... Hm... Where have we seen this before from AC? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

From a different angle -- this isn't the first time AC has had pretty poor taste of marketing... Didn't they screw up a different ad campaign in the United Kingdom (or somewhere else?) using Native people in some way?

I saw that ad in USA Today last week - made sense to me: the penguin is a tourist from the very deep south who is impressed with our weather, since it is summer where he/she lives. The ad is aimed at other penguins and those with similar inclinations. Should fill a lot of empty seats.

But, the marketing msg is a bit unclear as there is that lady in red on the right... I could see the confusion... If you have to think twice about the msg, then it's not a really effective ad. Perhaps if they showed a few penguins saying to each other "Pretty cool, eh?" and had an igloo and a polar bear in the background or something... Or if they at least dressed the penguin up a wee bit...

[This message has been edited by YOWkid (edited 01-14-2003).]

So you see Santa in the seat sale ad and you expect to see him seat beside you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Aha!

And it fits in nicely with that quote from the New England Aquarium. Penguins can't get to Canada because there's no food for them in the warm water of the tropics. But by flying on Air Canada or their Star Alliance partners, the penguin can ride in comfort and dine on their new aquatic sealife special meals.

I was starting to think that the caption was supposed to be "Cool up here, eh? In fact it's so cool that you'd probably want to go visit the Southern hemisphere where it's summer. While you're down there, you might as well check out the penguins, since we don't have them up here in the Northern Hemisphere."

Perhaps that didn't fit into the banner ad very well.

cnk

Marginally OT Aside:

Next time you go to a zoo with penguins, take a flashlight or laser pointer. You'll laugh yourself stupid for hours.

It's also worth pointing out (or perhaps not but what the heck) some penguins don't live in the cold, the ones at the Toronto zoo are called "Madagascar penguins" so I presume they are from Madagascar. They also have penguins in the courtyard at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

No, not at all. Where the heck would you get a seat like that for a seat sale price? And besides, I don't think "Santa" fits in seat 38E. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

FewMiles..


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