NUNAVUT
A series of parody videos have generated buzz online but the company being lampooned isn't as impressed with them.

A Calgary media company has teamed up with advocacy group Feeding My Family to produce videos and a social media campaign lampooning Nunavut's food prices. The North West Company, owners of NorthMart, finds the campaign inaccurate. - photo courtesy of WAX Partnership Inc.

The videos, created by Calgary media company WAX Partnership Inc., take a humorous approach and parody grocery store ads by using Nunavut food prices to highlight the high cost of living and eating in the North. They feature a fictional store called Way North Foods and use taglines such as "The home of high prices," "Nobody offers you less for more" and "Holiday Price Hikes."

A website, www.endthepricehike.ca, and social media campaign to contact politicians about the prices follows up the light-hearted ads.

Chris Lihou, copywriter with WAX, told Nunavut News/North the idea began a year ago when his company started reading about high prices in Nunavut. He got in touch with Feeding My Family, a Nunavut advocacy group in the south, and started working on a potential media campaign around the issue.

"We looked into it and we realized very quickly that it's quite complex, but the thing that seemed to hook us the most was the high prices," said Lihou.

The idea was to take grocery store ad stereotypes, such as smiling grocers and fun jingles, and overlay them with real prices from Nunavut.

He said the goal of the project, which had no outside budget, was to generate awareness in a different way and promote his company.

"It was kind of up to us to really spread it and get it in front of as many people as possible," said Brad Connell, art director.

Lihou said he took the dark humour approach because it catches people off guard.

"You're not immediately on guard saying, 'Oh, here's another public service announcement,'" said Lihou. "A lot of people have become resistant to that approach and a little desensitized to seeing people suffering from hunger."

Connell said they wanted something sharable.

"It makes you laugh and then makes you stop laughing and go, 'Whoa, this is crazy.'"

North West not impressed

Derek Reimer, director of health products and services development with The North West Company, who own and operated the NorthMart and Northern stores, said the company is disappointed in the message and the content of the videos.

"Much of the information we believe is inaccurate and doesn't present a fair picture," said Reimer to Nunavut News/North.

He took issue with a number of the prices shown in the videos. A 500-g jar of Compliments brand of peanut butter retails for $4.99 in the Pond Inlet store, said Reimer, while the video uses a price of $17.69.

"We believe this is true for other examples shown in the video," said Reimer, listing off several other prices.

He said The North West Company is addressing the serious issue of income security and cost of living in the North.

"While the video may generate headlines it does not address the real issues, which include the high cost of operating in the North and, secondly, the need to address inadequate income levels for many in the North," said Reimer.

"To fault the private sector for the current challenges is unfair and untrue and detracts from the real issue of income security and cost of living."

Supporting breakfast and meal programs in more than 50 communities, being an active participant in the Food Security Coalition, supporting local food banks, advocating for increased food subsidies and employing more than 3,000 people in the North are some of the ways the company has been addressing the issues, he said.

Lihou said his company understands there are variances in prices across the territory.