How I bought your coffee

If you caught tonight’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, then you know the last few minutes were basically one big Tim Hortons commercial. And that’s fine, because that’s how the product placement game is played. A couple of sitcom characters visit a Tim Horton’s franchise in Toronto, one of them makes fun of hockey and our five-dollar bill, and nobody can stop talking about how great the coffee is. Everyone has a good laugh, and a certain Canadian company’s expansion into the US market gets a boost.

For me, the only thing that made it an unusual example of product placement was the fact that Tim Hortons is a national institution. It’s not that I think it’s sacred, or that it should be held to a higher standard. It’s just that my usual reaction to a blatant product placement is groaning resentment, and my usual reaction to any mention of Canada on an American sitcom is the gleeful pride we all get whenever they acknowledge us. So basically, for me, a Tim Hortons product placement is like a rollercoaster ride of contradictory emotions, pulling me this way and that.

At any rate, it’s a shame they weren’t able to work in some details on their new Coffee Partnership program. It actually looks pretty interesting and well worth promoting, though I guess the plight of impoverished coffee growers and the importance of fair trade are a bit weighty for the average sitcom. Then again, How I Met Your Mother likes to drag out its jokes and memes for as long as possible, so if Tim Hortons is willing to shell out the cash, then I’m sure they can discuss it over several episodes. Marshall loves the environment and social justice, right? Well, there you go.

By the way, can you believe there’s a Wikipedia entry for the Canadian five-dollar bill? Is that site thorough or what?

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