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Invitations, Solicitations, and Mediations
Although Molson’s promotion invited a large targeted audience— through print, radio, and TV ads—to participate in the contest, the final five-hundred-person guest list for Molson’s Polar Beach Party was highly selective. In addition to the media, security, and Molson’s representatives, contest winners viewed the concert side by side with Tuktoyaktuk’s indigenous population. The inherently contradictory nature of the event was evident in the town’s restrictions on alcohol sales. Since Tuktoyaktuk forbade the sale of alcohol before the event and Molson wanted to take 13,000 cans of beer to the event (averaging 26 beers per person), Molson declared that it would not serve alcohol at the concert and that it would give the town $20,000 outright and another $5,000 for the local alcohol rehabilitation center. To help protect the fragile Arctic environment, Molson ‘‘enlisted the help of an American group, the Center for Marine Conservation’’ (<http://www.molsonice.com>).From beginning to end, then, the native people of Tuktoyaktuk were omnipresent, giving a human face to the North. Accord- ingly, the town’s indigenous people perpetuated the ‘‘extreme’’ or excess in authentic terms, forming a veritable ‘‘ethnoscape’’ (Appadurai 1990) both in and surrounding the concert tent. Although the people of Tuktoyaktuk did not join the concert as an equal partner, they ‘‘filled in’’ the geographical space with native peoples, thus overdetermining the land’s spatial boldness through the insertion of—in southerners’ eyes at least—those who seem- ingly successfully govern and overcome the excessive land, nature, and weather of the Arctic.Tuk’s residents were invited to the event, adding to its authentic aura, but their demographics and psychographics were not solicited. Conversely, Molson’s contestants, successful or not, were integrated into a much larger promotional enterprise—the reproduction of consumer markets. Whether on a rebate coupon, an entry form, or a Web page, Molson integrated its market research into a number of consumer practices. Consumers were urged, for instance, to purchase specially marked boxes of Molson Ice that were adorned with icebergs and the text ‘‘You could win instantly.’’ Consumers who found a ‘‘congratulations’’ sticker inside a box of Molson Ice beer were then required to forward their name, address, and age to Molson. Likewise, the ‘‘second-chance sweepstakes’’ required no purchase but asked consumers for their name, address, and phone number.Molson’s exclusive control of the promotion of the event, moreover, meant that it also controlled the broadcasting rights to the concert. In keeping with the spirit of the event and promotion as a whole, the broadcasting (or narrowcasting) of the event was demographically exclusive. A ten-hour live Internet cybercast was broadcast through the Molson Ice Web page, and reception of the cybercast, which was hosted by an MTV V-jay, thus required a computer, high-speed Internet access, and knowledge of online software such as RealPlayer. Reception of the cybercast was also contingent on online membership at <http://www.molsonice.com.> Not surprisingly, enrollment required answering a host of demographic questions (Booker 1995).
