1.8 million Canadians exposed to anti-Harper ad during NHL hockey game

#ShitHarperDid creates Twitter buzz during Hockey Night in Canada

*HD video available upon request.

Vancouver, Canada—Following a wildly-successful crowdfunding campaign, the political comedy community SHD.ca aired its 30-second ad during an NHL playoff game for the first time on Friday, reaching 1.8 million Canadians according to CBC overnight ratings. The commercial, which takes Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to task for recent economic failures, created a social media storm and ranked as one of Canada’s top trending Twitter topics hours before the game. The ad will air between 20 and 100 more times on national television, including a second Hockey Night in Canada spot next weekend.

The ad aired in direct competition with the Harper Government’s controversial taxpayer-funded playoff hockey ad campaign for Canada’s “Economic Action Plan.” The people-powered ad highlights that the average household debt and the number of Canadians relying on food banks have both reached an all-time high. Both the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund have echoed these economic trends.

“The Harper Conservatives are spending millions of our tax dollars telling us how great they are for the economy. Meanwhile their policies are leaving a record number of Canadians hungry,” says Brigette DePape, lead community organizer for SHD.ca. “Our community suggested we run our own ad focusing on the truth. We did and the response has been incredible.”

The group originally set out to raise $6,000—and reached the goal in under four hours. When the three week Indiegogo campaign had concluded the SHD community had fundraised $76,412. Fifteen percent of funds raised go to the Canadian Food Bank, totaling more than $11,000.

The SHD campaign has found broad public support in response to the Conservative government’s PR blitz which has cost taxpayers an unprecedented $113 million while being widely denounced as propaganda. The slick advertisements make misleading claims of “jobs,” “growth” and “prosperity.”  The government has purchased some of the world’s most expensive airtime, including the Super Bowl and the Oscars while refusing to disclose the full details of their advertising costs to the public.