I know I'll miss the Canadian Tire guy.........

[Franko]

RIP Ted    :'(

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060310/canadian_tire_couple_060310/20060310?hub=TopStories

Canadian Tire dumps know-it-all neighbour ads

Updated Fri. Mar. 10 2006 7:53 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

He was the country's least favourite neighbour, but Canadians won't have to see him anymore. Canadian Tire has dumped the smug star of their TV commercials and his perky wife.

For eight years, Ted the Canadian Tire Guy dominated the airwaves doling out invaluable advice to his friends and neighbours on everything from wiper blades without hinges to the perfect winter tires.

But, despite wanting being known as the man with a solution to every problem, he simply became known as a know-it-all.

"Very annoying," one man told CTV News.

"Sort of boring, they are sort of annoying after a while," said another.

Actor Ted Simonett played the mild mannered husband, and actress Gloria Slade played his red-headed wife.

"He had this neatly trim beard, he had this smug attitude, he had an irritating tone of voice," Globe and Mail TV Columnist John Doyle told CTV News. "In many ways though, I think to a lot of Canadian men he represented this sort of new neutered male figure."

Doyle ran a survey asking his readers to rank the most annoying people on TV. Canadian Tire's Ted topped the list.

"Some people saw him as a sort of a symbol of rampant wussyness among Canadian males, that's why he really irritated people," Doyle said.

After years of being parodied, mocked, and turned into the poster boy for the new softer, Canadian man, Canadian Tire pulled the plug on the ads. The news became public as the retailer unveiled its new spring ad campaign earlier this week.

Canadian Tire said the couple's "demo-mercials" were effective, but market research showed viewers were starting to grow tired of them.

"It was time for something new, something fresh, something different, and maybe something a little more light hearted," Canadian Tire's Lisa Gibson told CTV News.

So, Ted and his wife are being replaced by a series of no name couples who will use a more humourous, less in your face, sales approach.

The new campaign will debut during Saturday night's edition of Hockey Night in Canada.

One of the new commercials shows a couple eyeing a number of products in their neighbour's backyard. As the couple imagines the possibilities for their own garden, Canadian Tire signs pop up in different parts of the yard showing the different aisles where the products are.

The new ads are being produced by the ad firm Taxi, which took over Canadian Tire's ad account last year from Doner Canada.

While many viewers will be relieved that Ted won't be on their screens anymore, others will mourn his passing, simply because they enjoyed making fun of him.

 

[392]

Woo Freakin' Hoo! I always hated that guy. Kind of like CT's cheap answer to Sears' Bob Villa.....

 

[muffin]

WOW! That alone is a reason to throw a party!

 

[RangerRay]

"He had this neatly trim beard, he had this smug attitude, he had an irritating tone of voice," Globe and Mail TV Columnist John Doyle told CTV News. "In many ways though, I think to a lot of Canadian men he represented this sort of new neutered male figure."

Doyle ran a survey asking his readers to rank the most annoying people on TV. Canadian Tire's Ted topped the list.

"Some people saw him as a sort of a symbol of rampant wussyness among Canadian males, that's why he really irritated people," Doyle said.

Well, I won't be sad to see the end of those crappy commercials...If I had a neighbour like that, I would have run over his house with a bulldozer by now!

 

[karl28]

All I can say is thank the man upstairs lol Man that was an irritating commercial glad that its gone sad thing is Canadian Tire will probably just find something even more annoying than him lol

 

[orange.paint]

Thank you canadian tire.If that idoit lived next to me I would go all "devils rejects" on him,for those who have seen it ...you understand.

cheers

 

[Pea]

WOW! That alone is a reason to throw a party!

Amen to that!!

 

[aesop081]

WOW! That alone is a reason to throw a party!

My place tonight !!  Bring mix and i'll supply the booze

 

[Thompson_JM]

...others will mourn his passing, simply because they enjoyed making fun of him...

well there goes all my A-material.....

"oh no ted.. the kids just got fed through a tree shredder!"

"Fantastic! What a perfect time to try my new canadian Tire wet/dry shop Vac!"





- josh

 

[Chrisco]

FINALLY!! i was starting to think it would never end.

 

[c.jacob]

The new campaign will debut during Saturday night's edition of Hockey Night in Canada.

  Maybe that helped the Leafs luck when they won last night

 

[Hunter]

I always found his resemblance to Ned Flanders kinda funny. 

I really don't like the new commercials.  The whole men-are-unsophisticated-dolts theme is old, and sexist.  It's not the commercials themselves that bother me, but the double-standard with regards to stereotypes. We would never see a similar commercial aimed at any group other than straight white men.

 

[RossF]

Am I the only one that thinks it's brutal how like everyone in the country is celebrating this guy's death?? What is the family thinking? yikes!

 

[Springroll]

Kind of like CT's cheap answer to Sears' Bob Villa.....

That is always how I saw him...and I can't stand Bob Villa

 

[Kat Stevens]

My beef with the guy was simple.  If he could afford every gadget he owned, plus the cottage, boat, sleds, quads, particle beam accelerator, etc, why the hell couldn't he afford a handyman to use em all?

 

[Pea]

Am I the only one that thinks it's brutal how like everyone in the country is celebrating this guy's death?? What is the family thinking? yikes!

Uh, he's not dead. They just dumped him from their campaign because he was annoying.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Am I the only one that thinks it's brutal how like everyone in the country is celebrating this guy's death?? What is the family thinking? yikes!

Uh, he's not dead. They just dumped him from their campaign because he was annoying.

Kinda like the kilted Keith's guy. Though he was dumped for other reasons :, he was annoying also.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

My beef with the guy was simple.  If he could afford every gadget he owned, plus the cottage, boat, sleds, quads, particle beam accelerator, etc, why the hell couldn't he afford a handyman to use em all?

Because he enjoyed working? ???

 

[Kat Stevens]

Of course, that must be it.  Thank you very much for yet another timely and succicnt correction.... whatever would I do without you? 8)

 

[HItorMiss]

.

Of course, that must be it.  Thank you very much for yet another timely and succinct correction.... whatever would I do without you? 8)

Why thats an easy question to answer Kat...

Your wittyness and sarcasm would go unchecked and then would spread so far and wide as to corrupt the newest of members on these boards ;D