issue 31// vol 47

“Health Rock,” another PSA from the CCA, is captioned by the CCA
as “A lively sixty second animation with an entertaining theme song that
explains the importance of balancing food and activity and encourages kids
to ‘eat smart and move more.”

 

“The House Hippo” has and always will be my favourite painful ad to
indulge in. The CCA states it is, “An inventive spot that reminds children that
not everything on television is real. Children are encouraged to think about
what they see on TV and to ask questions.” Ironically, as a child I thought
house hippos were real and I wanted one bad, so watching it now after
having realized that they're not real at some point in my childhood keeps the
pain fresh. It’s like finding out Santa Claus isn’t real—but worse.

  
  

Stills from commercials by Concerned Children's Advertisers

If kids still watched TV, ads like these would've been fantastic to keep
running to remind children that they have the capacity for critical thinking
and that they should use it when absorbing information from the media.

Go Bananas is an indoor playcenter located now in Langley, Surrey,
Richmond, and North Vancouver, BC. Childhood for a lot of Canadians
included visiting these fun playroom attractions such as Chuck E. Cheese,
the McDonald’s PlayPlace (with the McDonald’s character chairs), and for
those in the Lower Mainland, Crash Crawly’s.

Photo by Go Bananas on Yelp

life & style // no. 23

Now, everyone knows Zellers. In fact, I’m sure many Canadians still
use “It’s close to where the Zellers was,” in giving everyday directions to
someone, but only the real ones remember the Zellers ferris wheel. My
mother used to bribe me to go to Zellers with her just to ride this thing, and I
have a vivid memory of sitting on my friend’s lap going on it, while being far
too old to have been going on this tiny ride. However, I’m glad we did since
this infamous landmark is gone forever.

  
  

Photo by u/Bloodraven23 on Reddit

Finally, we have some reading material. Robert Munsch was easily
my favourite author when I was a wee lad and going to the library during
elementary school class to be read his books by the librarian was truly some
of the best times. Sure, there was also Dr. Seuss and Goosebumps and plenty
of others, but they don’t feel as Canadian childhood as this. The Paper Bag
Princess has my heart out of all Munsch classics.

Saving the best for last, Scholastic Book Club newsletters were the
epitome of happiness in elementary school. You'd get one of these bad boys,
hype up all the products with your friends, take the newsletter home to your
parents (who were probably thinking “not this again”), and buy all the weird
spy gadgets, science experiment books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid collections,
and toys to your heart’s desire.

J.K.ROWLING

EERE EI M NZD AT: “he \
Shortlisted for the my
y

1997 CARNEGIE MEDAL

Photo by Janis McMath

Growing up in Canada was a wild time, and these strange niche
memories can connect you to any other Canadian, making for a fantastic
conversation starter if youre tired of talking about the rain or the snow.