Welcome to Canada

It’s a cold, grey Thursday morning. The leaves are falling and as of yesterday, we have officially checked-out of summer. I love this time of year. The cold weather makes me long for a cozy sweater, a fireplace, a Bailey’s and hot chocolate and of course, a great movie. Speaking of movies, you may have heard that Netflix launched in Canada recently. In fact, they closed a street in Toronto yesterday to promote the launch. However, there were more than a few raised eyebrows when it came to light that the company had hired paid extras to mill about and speak with reporters posing as interested, excited consumers.

Twitter feeds were a chirp with the news and Netflix issued an apology saying the paid extras were given a direction, but, according to a Netflix spokesperson, should not have been speaking to reporters. Hmm. Here’s what their information sheet stated:

“Extras are to behave as members of the public, out and about enjoying their day-to-day life, who happen upon a street event for Netflix and stop by to check it out. Extras are to look really excited, particularly if asked by media to do any interviews about the prospect of Netflix in Canada.”
Source: Globe & Mail

Anyhow, regardless of that fiasco, this service is going to succeed in Canada. Especially with the promo of one-month free to start. They are going to get a lot of people signed-up from that offer. And that strategic offer certainly makes up for the paid extras debacle. Nice move, Netflix. Now let’s take a look at some of your commercials, shall we.