Maple Leaf –
Standing For Canada

One of the most powerful brand logos in the world is not a brand at all but a national flag. It was selected by national committee in the 1960s to symbolize the breaking of Canada's colonial ties to Britain and the forging of a new nation. The maple leaf has exceeded all expectations and is all-pervasive as a national logo. It is the very soul of Canada and condenses into its jagged form a number of mythologies. It stands not only for the country but also peace, humility and environmentalism. Few citizenship bodies have such a consensus on what their national flag 'means'. The unifying, centrifugal maple leaf design also signifies Canada's softer communitarian ethos in contra-distinction to the federal, atomised, individualistic USA - signified by the partitioned layout of the Stars and Stripes. On a subliminal level the leaf connects citizens to the tree of Canadian nationhood. Brands like Molson and the ice hockey team use the emblem as a sign of prowess; the red leaf becomes a red hot blaze of glory shooting outwards. Abroad a small leaf has come to be associated as an alibi that exonerates the bearer from anti-American prejudice. The ubiquity of the emblem throughout Canada attests to the semiotic flexibility of this superficially modest sign.