FLICK OFF (''flick off'') is a Canadian

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it att ...

launched by Key Gordon Communications. It is a movement to fight

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

by getting Canadians to use less energy. Its sponsors include

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

Roots Canada Roots Corporation ( doing business as Roots) is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by M ...

Environmental Defence Canada Environmental Defence (formerly known as the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund) is a Canadian environmental organization, founded in 1984. Its areas of education and research include toxic chemicals, urban sprawl, oil sands, global warming ...

and the

Government of Ontario The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor ...

. Some view this program as a continuation of the scrapped program

One-Tonne Challenge The One-Tonne Challenge was a challenge presented by the Politics of Canada, Government of Canada in March 2004 for Canadians, Canadians to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne each year. The figure represented 20% of total greenhous ...

in global perspective. The motivation for the campaign is both to reduce energy consumption for its own sake and also with the aim of reducing

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and l ...

to ultimately combat

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...

. The website associated with the campaign is aimed specifically at young Canadians. The website contains educational material about causes and consequences of global warming and strategies for reducing carbon emissions, and includes a "carbon calculator" called ''One Less Tonne'' to measure individual

carbon dioxide emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

. The website was launched by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

entrepreneur

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expresse ...

and Ontario Environment Minister

Laurel Broten Laurel C. Broten (born 1967) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2013, who represented the Toronto riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore. She served in the cabine ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

on April 25, 2007. According to the official website, the campaign is now in "hibernation".

Choice of name

The choice of the campaign's name is intended both as a reference to a

light switch In electrical wiring, a light switch is a switch most commonly used to operate electric lights, permanently connected equipment, or electrical outlets. Portable lamps such as table lamps may have a light switch mounted on the socket, base, or ...

(reflecting the energy-conservation theme) and the exhortation "

fuck off Fuck off may also refer to: * ''Fuck Off'', an art exhibition that ran alongside the Shanghai Biennial Festival in 2000 * "Fuck Off", a 1977 song by Wayne County & the Electric Chairs * "Fuck Off", the preliminary title of "Le Freak", a 1978 so ...

". This deliberate ambiguity is reflected in the design of the "Flick Off" logo, in which the L and I in "flick" are designed to resemble a U, in the branded promotional items for sale as part of the campaign, and in the website which features phrases like "are we flicked?". The

power symbol A power symbol is a symbol indicating that a control activates or deactivates a particular device. Such a control may be a rocker switch, a toggle switch, a push-button, a virtual switch on a display screen, or some other user interface. The i ...

used as an "o" in "off" may also represent a raised middle finger. The choice was criticized by several Ontario opposition politicians. In speaking of the campaign,

Peter Kormos Peter Kormos (October 7, 1952 – March 30, 2013) was a politician in Welland, Ontario, Canada. A lawyer by profession, he was first elected as an Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) to the Legislative Asse ...

of the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

said "It's silly, it's embarrassing, and clearly it's an ad agency that has a bunch of flickin' amateurs as employees." Ontario premier

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...

responded that "if people want to take offence at something, don't take offence at the "flick off" campaign. Take offence at the fact that we are, as a species, raising the temperature on our planet." ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Postmedia Place i ...

'' lifestyle columnist and

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, ...

city council candidate Marianne Meed Ward responded that the debate over words was the privilege of the rich and pampered.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site for the Flick Off campaign
* ttp://www.keygordon.com Key Gordon Communications Public awareness campaigns Environment of Canada Politics of Ontario Energy conservation in Canada Climate change in Canada

Choice of name

See also

References

External links