There was a time, not too long ago, when the word culture was easily defined. Besides being a main ingredient in yogurt, culture included such sophisticated pastimes as the opera, the theatre and on a good day, Canadian film and television.

The Alliance for Canadian Advertising Tax Credits is an organization describing itself as an ‘ad-hoc coalition’ of organizations supporting the Canadian advertising industry. Recently, the acatc has lobbied to have the production of television commercials receive some of the same tax breaks as Canadian-produced films and tv programs, under the oversized umbrella of Canadian culture. More specifically, the organization wishes to stop the ‘exclusion of advertising’ from the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

A key point here: the tax breaks wouldn’t be for producers but for advertisers. If Procter & Gamble wanted to shoot a Scope ad in sunny Winnipeg, P&G would get the tax benefit.

Garry Neil, a spokesman for the lobbying effort, met with some members of the Commercial Production Association of Toronto last month to discuss the issue. Partners’ gm Ross McLean attended as part of the cpat delegation and says the proposal for ad tax credits would create more problems than benefits – like reams of paperwork and extra expenses. According to McLean, a tax credit wouldn’t add much value for American advertisers.

‘We can already shoot a commercial for half of what the States charges, between the exchange and our cheaper rates. So if a financial incentive was the issue, then they’d be here. And they’re not,’ McLean explains.

Although unavailable for a full interview, Garry Neil told Playback in a telephone message the acatc is ‘reconsidering [its] strategy and might not be moving ahead.’ Whether this has anything to do with the poor response from commercial producers at the cpat meeting last month is anybody’s guess.

Canadian Heritage, which administers cultural tax credit programs, explains the tax credit would first have to be approved by the Department of Finance. No one Playback reached at Finance knew anything about the lobbying effort.

Although the push for the new tax credit appears to be losing steam, it does raise an important question: Are Canadian commercials culturally relevant? According to the acatc: ‘Commercials reflect our life. They are a powerful cultural tool and a means of passing along our mores, traditions and lifestyle to new citizens and the next generation.’ Excuse me while I squeeze my pizza pouch all over the culturally relevant frozen food section of my local grocer.

It is important to remember that it is not only advertising that is excluded from the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, but also things like talk shows, news, sports and pornography. It is hard to argue the cultural relevance of most of this television content – at least according to the traditional definitions of culture. However, in most cases, they come a lot closer than commercials do to having some cultural merit. So, unless you’re shooting Yoplait or Danone, I wouldn’t be sitting up waiting for a Governor General’s award any time soon.