Veterans Affairs Canada was running some spots to remember the upcoming 75th Anniversary of V-E Day.
It included photos of soldiers from WWII, accompanied with the traditional solemn voice-over about the debt Canada owes to its soldiers who gave so much, and how we will never forget those brave soldiers.
The soldiers wearing eagles on their breasts.
With coal-scuttle helmets.
And short-billed forage caps instead of berets or wedge-caps.
:eek: :smack: :smack: :eek:
Oops.
The spot has been pulled, and questions asked in the House of Commons.
The thing is, if it were just a shoddy image search, you’d expect a few American, British or Russian troops in there too, but no - they have multiple German pics, and that’s it. Very strange.
“I need you to find some pics of soldiers for our clip about V-E day”
“V-what day??”
“You know, when we won the war in Germany”
“Oh. OK” Googles: ‘soldiers in war in Germany’
To be honest it isn’t the first time bullshit ‘accidents’ like this have taken place. Remember the Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa? The one from a couple of years ago, the one that didn’t mention Jewish people at all?
As the soldiers with the Nazi eagles walk by, the video includes a caption saying “More than a million Canadian men and women served in this bitter conflict.”
What I’m guessing is the images are meant to represent “this bitter conflict.” As such, showing the thing they were fighting against is appropriate. Maybe it was badly done so that the intent wasn’t clear. Or maybe it’s like people getting upset if they hear the word “niggardly”.
Of course, I can’t be sure without seeing the whole thing.
What seems obvious is that a moron at the ad agency pulled up stock footage of WWII soldiers marching and paired it with solemn statements about the sacrifices of the Canadian military.
I would find it offensive too, if I could stop laughing.
It could’ve been worse - the spot could’ve mentioned the contributions of Canada’s wartime leaders, while showing footage of Goebbels and Goering.*
I suspect even the most clueless millennial would’ve realized that footage of Hitler addressing the Reichstag didn’t match uplifting words about William Lyon Mackenzie King* and Parliament.
**yes, I had to look that up.
Maybe whoever made the video didn’t in fact intend to depict Canadian soldiers, but simply to illustrate WWII. How much of the video shows German soldiers? If it’s a short passage, it could be just that. Watchers just assumed that the idea was “One million Canadians (footage of Canadians) served in WWII” when it was intended to be “One million Canadians served in WWII (footage of WWII)”
