"All Ice Is Home Ice"

As gradually rising, intense music plays in the background, crowd noises turn to excitement and glee, the announcer explains the beautiful goal and the skillful move that preceded it, a wide angled shot of a father and son enjoying and taking part in what is considered our national past-time is seen – hockey. Throughout the commercial, players of different ages and skill levels are shown travelling to the rink and going through all sorts of pre game preparations, and eventually taking the ice for game time. However, throughout the commercial, built up is the anticipation for what is going to happen next, and ultimately, it is up to Team Canada’s National Hockey Teams to decide, with one of Canada’s best defensemen Drew Doughty exclaiming, “All ice is home ice”. This advertisement is great in creating emotions of joy, yet it is racially and gender segregated.

In this advertisement, Nike really attempts to grasp the excitement, nervousness, preparation, practice and hard work that goes into playing a hockey game, yet in the commercial, it focuses on the fact that these players are Canadian. This commercial was made to pump up the nation before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and the way it does so is to involve all viewers either in something they enjoy partaking in, or enjoy watching. This is a form of civic nationalism in my opinion. Agnew describes Civic Nationalism as, “the inclusive identity of the nation with the people.”¹ The commercial was intended to bring together people across the country for one cause, and to make Canadian citizens in all provinces realize that we are one country fighting for one cause in these Olympics. The commercial gives reference to our creation of the sport, and introduces a form of nationalism that can give a person a sense of belonging to hockey. The first words said by the narrator are, “we invented this game”, referring to Canadians. It ties into our history as a nation and gives the viewer pride in knowing that our country was responsible for building, “perfecting” (as they say in the commercial), and maintaining a culture that is hockey in Canada. In knowing that we have created the sport of hockey, it should automatically give Canada the edge over other countries trying to compete against us.

The commercial breaks down our superiority among other nations in saying, “we perfected it, we have the most fans, the most players, the most heart of any nation”. I view this part of the commercial as Identity Politics, which Dittmer describes as, “Politics organized around the promotion of a particular category of people.”² This line, spoken by the narrator, starts as one of Canada’s best hockey players, let alone one of the best hockey players in the world, Steven Stamkos walks by a rink security guard who greets him in a rude, low, Russian voice. At one point in the commercial as some Canadian players take the ice, a man with Russian face paint is screaming at them, most likely banter fans would yell at opposing teams, however it gave the Russian man an image that of classless and disrespectful. These few seconds of the commercial act as a way to bring down Russia, who is usually Canada’s biggest competitor in international competition, and one of the worlds greatest hockey powerhouses.

(Steven Stamkos walking towards the Russian security guard)

 

Throughout the commercial, shots go back and forth between men and women, boys and girls who are either getting ready, concentrating on, or playing hockey. Although the commercial seems to be all inclusive of genders, the narrator is a male (Drew Doughty), and the other notable superstar in the commercial (Steven Stamkos), is a male. Young girls are shown in the commercial, as is an older female hockey player who is getting ready in the change room. However, when contrasting the two shots of the male hockey player (Drew Doughty) and the unknown female hockey player, it makes sure to show Doughty’s jersey backwards facing behind him so that his last name and his number are shown to point out that it is in fact him in the commercial. Even after searching for the identity of the female player on the Internet, no results were discovered. At the end of the commercial, a close up shot of Doughty fills the screen with him proclaiming, “All ice is home ice”. No attempt in the commercial was made to promote the Canadian Women’s National Hockey Team, however, with the inclusion of female hockey players throughout the commercial, it is understood that it is both the Men’s and the Women’s teams in Sochi in which we as Canadians will be supporting. I do not believe this to be the case, however. Unfortunately when it comes to international hockey, attention is heavily given to the Men’s hockey team and the competition between the NHL’s elites. Therefore, with all the evidence given throughout the commercial, I do not believe that this commercial was to promote both National Hockey Teams. Nice try, Nike. It is also important to note that this commercial did not feature one race other than Caucasian. Every focal point, referee and even the extras in the advertisement were white. Believe me, I’ve watched it about 40 times.

“Nations are, in many ways, the fundamental building blocks of our geographic imaginations,”³ I believe that this commercial did a great job in pumping up and creating excitement amongst Canadians amidst the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which is exactly what it aimed at doing. This advertisement, however, was one that was non-inclusive of genders or races, and quite discriminatory towards other nations. After watching this commercial, not only did I want to play hockey, I was extremely proud to be Canadian, that’s for sure.

Nikko Stamatis

1. Agnew, John. 2012.  “Nationalism.” in Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography.  Edited by Nuala Johnson, Richard Schein & Jamie Winders. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 136.

2. Dittmer, Jason. 2010. Chapter 4: “Narration of Nation in the Post WWII US”, in Popular Culture, Geopolitics, and Identity. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 73.

3. Dittmer, p. 74.