The Rural Voice, 1988-01, Page 14POULTRY
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12 THE RURAL VOICE
THE FARMER AS PROP
- A VIEW FROM THE CITY
I don't suppose I've ever had as
much reaction to a column as I did to
the one entitled "You Can Take the
Reporter out of the City ..." that
appeared in the September issue of
The Rural Voice.
When my wife visited the local
bank the day after the magazine was in
the mail, one of the staff was passing
around a copy showing it to the others.
All had been miffed by the stereo-
typed versions of small-town and rural
people they had been reading in urban
publications for years.
Ross Dailey on "This Business
of Farming" wanted to talk about the
column when I appeared on his tele-
vision show talking about "Another
Season's Promise," the play about the
farm crisis. He's worried about the
same lack of knowledge of the
realities of farm life.
And Susan Glover of R. R. 1,
Shallow Lake sent along a copy of
an article of her own which recently
appeared in This Magazine. The
article deals with the "country chic"
trend of some modern, well-to-do
urban people. She refers to another
article, one in Chatelaine on "Chic
Country Retreats," in which a couple
that renovated a farmhouse as a coun-
try place talk about the attractions of
their home, the foremost being the en-
chanting views of acres of farm fields.
"As I read through these articles,"
she says in her piece, "I suddenly
realized what the new role of farmers
had become; we are scenery. We have
been wasting our time trying to
change the economic woes, the stress
and hardship of farming. In trying to
make a living producing food we have
completely missed the point. Our real
function is to be external decor, to
provide the pastoral view out of the
triple -glazed casement windows of
renovated farmhouses."
Come now, Susan, you may have
something of a point there, but you're
underselling the value of farmers to
urban dwellers. Farmers are needed
for more than just scenery for Yuppies
with country places. They're needed
for something much more important:
advertising.
Haven't you noticed that whenever
somebody wants to sell the feeling of
something natural, something stable,
something of old-fashioned value,
they turn to images of farming?
Recently there was the commercial
(I think it was for beer but must admit
I was too busy laughing to notice what
the product was) in which this guy is
trying to pry a tree stump out of the
ground. A neighbour on a 1946
tractor (or thereabouts) comes along,
hitches on, and pulls the stump out. I
suppose the subtext of the ad is that
even a farmer dumb enough to try to
move a stump by hand can still enjoy
the simple pleasure of a good beer (he
certainly should have built up the
muscles to lift a few).
Then there are farmers used as
background for selling cheese and
breakfast cereals and so many other
food products. There are even farmers
used to try to give a wholesome
feeling about man-made substitutes
for natural things grown on a farm.
And of course it's always helpful
to have dumb, more than slightly
inbred farm families to take the brunt
of funny commercials like the one for
the bubble gum in which huge fruits
keep landing on people's heads.
In fact, the image of the farmer is
so important to modern commerce that
it will probably be carried on in adver-
tising long after the last Canadian
farmer has bit the dust. I can see the
odd farm being kept in working condi-
tion so they can bring young advertis-
ing people out to have a look at it and
be inspired with ideas for ads.0
Keith Roulston, who lives near
Blyth, Is the originator and past
publisher of The Rural Voice.