# Westjet Christmas Surprise



## buaya (Jan 7, 2011)

What a great gesture from a company that prides itself on taking care of their customers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIEIvi2MuEk


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Yeah, one of my friends sent me this video earlier this morning.
It is "going viral" (which appears to be the latest buzzword these days).

I watched it about 3/4th of the way and then stopped in disgust.

Maybe it is just me, but I feel revolted at the senseless, mindless conspicuous consumption depicted in this.
IMO, this type of viral video simple encourages and reinforces this type of senseless consumption.

People asking for 52" flat screen TVs, small kids asking for Galaxy tablets, another 5 or 6 year old asking for an Android phone....geez, man.
There was one guy that wanted socks and underwear and another that wanted a woolen scarf.
But everyone else was gorging on e-Junk.

I know this is probably not the response you were hoping for, but I do not consider this a "good news story" at all.
Just another e-Waste binge fueled by a company shamelessly self-promoting.


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## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

I thought it was pretty cool!
Those are huge gestures for the young kids!(tablets ect-remember when you were a kid?)
Looked like a few of those people really ''needed'' a break and got one!(women who got the camera)
I say good on west-jet
Lately its been a bevy of plant closures and general doom(esp in Toronto)corporate news is constantly depressing.
Maybe it was a bit excessive but I think in the scheme of things how can it be bad to make a few people smile and be happy,i know I would love it if someone gave me a tv.lol
I have a friend that works at west jet and she raves how good the company is(and how employee centric they are-profit sharing ect)
Rather see this than a teary eyed father getting laid off form a plant closure.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Holy Harold-------Merry Christmas!

I love it, a bit of Canadiana, break-out holiday cheer, great music and sure lots of toys--------wait isn't this this season for it.

Also enjoy a sombre moment of traditional church service, carols, remembering love ones , northern lights, icicles, huskies howling, on and on

But good on Westjet, a spirited celebration, lots of fun-----------tis the season!


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

LOL @ Harold's e-waste comments. Too funny. We can't fully blame Harold though. Like me, he knows where a lot of this e-waste actually ends up. It is causing a lot of damage to 3rd world countries that western countries like ours ship our e-waste to. We should be trying to MINIMIZE the amount of electronic goods we consume, for the good of the environment. Aren't we supposedly in the "green" era?


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

'WestJet, with the help of Toronto-based production company Studio M, packaged the footage from 19 different hidden cameras into a slick five-minute, 26-second ad. It launched on YouTube on Monday morning, and was soon "trending" on Twitter, *causing grown adults to sob at their desks.* It was manipulative. It was sentimental. It was a paean to Christmas commercialism. And it was utterly brilliant. http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel...media/9268311/story.html#sthash.rNBCUJBf.dpuf

LOL, 'causing grown adults to sob'. 

Hardly what I would call a 'Christmas miracle' or the true spirit of Christmas. The emphasis is indeed on nothing but consumerism.

If I would have been asked what I wanted, I would have said movie passes. each:

I learned a month ago how to knit, and one of the special gifts I'm giving for X-mas, is a beautiful hand-made scarf, in all the Christmas colours, of course!


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> 1. We can't fully blame Harold though.
> 2. We should be trying to MINIMIZE the amount of electronic goods we consume, for the good of the environment. Aren't we supposedly in the "green" era?


*1.* LOL, 1/2 blame him for what?! He was 1000% right!
*2.* It's about much, much more than that!


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Maybe I'm more cynical than average. I see this as a clever marketing ploy. It's an inexpensive way to get a huge number of positive impressions. This also shows the evolution of marketing with youtube pre-roll ads. Youtube enables companies to create longer form advertisements that viewers deliberately watch (by not hitting the skip button after the first five seconds). These ads are great value as you can use the first 5 seconds to get a superficial impression but you only pay for a 'click' for the ad if the viewer doesn't skip it.

The trick is to make the ads interesting or engaging, rather than something the viewer has to endure to get at the content. This campaign is responding to that trend, much like the Old Spice ads a few years ago with Isaiah Mustafa. These were relatively cheap campaigns that not only engaged and entertained viewers, but received a lot of free/earned media coverage.

So, I don't view this as WestJet being kind and benevolent. I see it as them being media savvy. If kindness was the motivation, it would not have been carefully stagecrafted and recorded.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> I learned a month ago how to knit, and one of the special gifts I'm giving for X-mas, is a beautiful hand-made scarf, in all the Christmas colours, of course!



ooh knitting is taking over the world
here are a few favourite knitterbloggers:

yarn harlot is a goddess
so much love & humour for everyone on the planet:
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

she's a musician & former hi-powered washington DC wife
if u think u are picking up a bitchy vibration, u are!
http://chezlizzie.blogspot.ca/

this one knits w wild & crazy textiles
there are some good teaching videos on her website
http://www.handspunartyarn.com/

me i've thought about knitting w original yarns
like maybe yarn strung from plastic shopping bags
or old audio tapes
but i didn't because 
garments knit from biodegradable shopping bags would break down quickly
an audio tape sweater would be interesting but hot & scratchy

t.gal, for people who over-consume at christmastime, do you think there might be a market for hand-knitted hair vests - knit from a mixed yarn plied from audio tape plus straw, say - even a few tiny twigs knitted in here & there - these to be worn as penance in january?


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

I have fond memories of a heavy knitted outdoor sweater, with a hockey player on the front, made by my grandmother and given to me one Christmas long ago.

It was unique, one of a kind, warm and the best gift...........ever.

I remember people asking where I got it.........and proudly saying......"my grandma made it for me."


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

industrial zippers! they've never been tried in knitting!

you'd have to knit with ski poles instead of knitting needles, though.

dress made of zippers looks cool. Breezy, one could say.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

The purse caught my eye..............


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I don't even know where to start lol


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

She's holding a purse?  LOL


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> 1. you'd have to knit with *ski poles* instead of knitting needles, though
> 2. dress made of zippers looks cool. *Breezy,* one could say.


*1.* LOL. I'll check if they sell those next time I go to Michaels, where creativity happens.  
*2.* Yah, looks pretty drafty, LOL.

Thanks for the knitterbloggers, but please don't get me addicted to them, I think I would prefer a forum where the talk is shorter.

Yarn Harlot was funny indeed. '90 minutes to get to Raleigh, and more than 30 hours to get back' [to Toronto]. I don't think I have ever made more than 1 connection.

I had actually wanted to learn how to knit long ago, but didn't think I had the patience for it. For now, my only 'knitter bag' = scarf, with the simplest of stitches since I'm a total newbie at this. Like Ashley Martineau, I'm self-taught also [you gotta loooooove YouTube]. Next year I'll try to knit matching gloves [so I bought extra yarn for that project]. Believe it or not, it took me about 5 minutes to get the casting on/casting off technique; another few hours to get the right tension, which means I had to undo my initial scarf several times; and even making the initial loop had been challenging. :stupid:

This shall be my next purchase:


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> Yah, [zipper dress] looks pretty drafty, LOL.
> 
> ... which means I had to undo my initial scarf several times



it occurs to me, suppose one were out wearing that zipper dress with not much underneath & an icy gust of wind blew up?

y'know how metal conducts heat & cold so fast? omg a poor bod would freeze to death. I mean, the brass zippers would freeze right onto the skin. Traditional fibre textiles are so much kinder.

re the unravelling, one of the most reassuring things about yarn harlot is the number of times she herself rips back & restarts a knitting project. Many, many times. Until she blogged i always thought i was the dumb crumb w no thumbs.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I have a friend who made a hacky-sack out of chain mail, the kind used by knights in the Middle Ages. The zipper dress reminds me of that a little.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I think it was a brilliant marketing play. Got lots of free coverage and good will.

(Some are complaining that Christmas has become commercial. Wow what a revelation!):cower:


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

kcowan said:


> I think it was a brilliant marketing play.


That we can agree on!

*hp:* my [thumbs] confidence has gone up now! :encouragement:


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Toronto.gal said:


> *1.*
> 
> I had actually wanted to learn how to knit long ago, but didn't think I had the patience for it. For now, my only 'knitter bag' = scarf, with the simplest of stitches since I'm a total newbie at this. Like Ashley Martineau, I'm self-taught also [you gotta loooooove YouTube]. Next year I'll try to knit matching gloves [so I bought extra yarn for that project]. Believe it or not, it took me about 5 minutes to get the casting on/casting off technique; another few hours to get the right tension, which means I had to undo my initial scarf several times; and even making the initial loop had been challenging. :stupid:
> 
> This shall be my next purchase:



My warning is watch out for those things that you have to knit in pairs that are supposed to be the same. I can do hats and scarves, but mittens and socks really cause me issue. Apparently the counting stich part is really important. I have some mittens without the thumb hole (that's another issue together for me ) so they look kind of like socks, but them one goes to the wrist and the other much further up.


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## Hawkdog (Oct 26, 2012)

HaroldCrump said:


> Yeah, one of my friends sent me this video earlier this morning.
> It is "going viral" (which appears to be the latest buzzword these days).
> 
> I watched it about 3/4th of the way and then stopped in disgust.
> ...


Its actually very well done. I am not sure how its any different than when i used to get the sears xmas catalogue when i was kid, and go through it drooling
I would have been asking for a tablet except they didn't exist.
I am curious if Best Bet had to pay to get their store in the ad?

That being said i am the biggest grinch around when it comes to xmas due to the commercialism.
And I agree its a lot ewaste, but every second commercial on TV promotes it. If every other kid in the class has a smart phone, then you sorta have to expect the kid who doesn't have one will ask for one.
We actually got kobo's as gifts from work this year.

I am hoping for another set of mother's knitted slippers this year, and she is getting a subscription to PLY magazine from me.
She is making some pretty neat stuff with her felting these days.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> 1. My warning is watch out for those things that you have to knit in pairs that are supposed to be the same. Apparently the counting stich part is really important.
> 2. have some mittens without the thumb hole


*1. *Thanks for the warning PA. I'm done knitting for this year, and I won't start on the gloves until much later next year, so I'll have time to read up until then.
*2.* Maybe I'll try this style first: :encouragement:










I have discovered that I actually like knitting, and was very surprised by that! And the great thing is that it can be done while I watch my fav. shows on PBS, so I kill 2 birds with one stone!

Also next year, I'll try to knit this for myself; looks pretty easy to knit, no?
http://www.jny.com/Long-Sleeve-Spli...2365&prefn1=catalog-id&prefv1=jonesny-catalog


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

It made some people very happy. It was brilliant marketing. Sometimes duel objectives are possible.


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

I can't believe that somebody didn't ask Santa for world peace! I wonder what Westjet would have done then? I guess it really is all about the consumer.

Great commercial.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

TG. I really like those gloves. I am sure they will look great.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

scottish knitting designer kate davies is an icon

she navigates between the mist-shrouded gaelic isles where the rarest sheep are sheared
back to edinburgh & glasgow

kate's hat is knit from undyed natural coloured wool from sheep on Foula, in the Faroe islands

below, she wears a vintage dress knit by an unknown Shetland artisan half a century ago.











.









.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Wife loves this commercial and says we will only fly West Jet.. Oh the power of marketing and brand. 

Discloser: long WJ stock.


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## underemployedactor (Oct 22, 2011)

Somehow, I can't see Air Canada giving anything away. Except maybe giving the seat that you booked and paid for to someone else....


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Flew some Westjet on trip to SriLanka Lanka====son,s wedding 
Told the crew, a fine start to the season

Merry Christmas to all!


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