For his latest ad, released Wednesday, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau chose a familiar setting – the set of the Canadian teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the ad, Trudeau appears in a classroom defending his teaching career – a response to attack ads run by the Conservatives suggesting Trudeau is too inexperienced to be Prime Minister.
We were hoping the Degrassi setting might be a nod to the show’s recurring bullying storylines (or the all-important Degrassi High student council elections) but a rep for the Epitome Pictures, the production house behind Degrassi, said Trudeau’s team was simply looking for an available sound stage that could serve as a school setting for the politician to talk about his teaching career. The plan wasn’t to reference the popular Canadian show (now shooting its 13th season), though several eagle-eyed consumers have identified the famous classroom on social media and in the press.
In the ad Trudeau to his promise to “stay positive” in his communications, telling reporters that “the message that I’m sharing in those ads is a message that is built on the conversations I’ve had with Canadians right across the country. Positive, hopeful, about working hard together, and about expecting better from ourselves, from our neighbours, but mostly from our elected officials.”
