Fairlee Fruit Juice is trying to dip into Canada’s ice tea market with an ad campaign ironically tied to a u.s. historical event.

Boston Iced Tea is being promoted with two radio spots starring characters Martha and George in a modern twist to the Boston Tea Party, and carrying the selling line ‘Make Your Thirst History.’ Fairlee has also worked out a deal with five Toronto radio stations to offer samples of the product at outdoor events throughout the summer.

In launching the product, Toronto-based Fairlee plans to take advantage of its fairly broad distribution base in the food-service industry, according to Kally Dimos, marketing manager for the Toronto-based juice company.

Fairlee is optimistic the campaign will work, even though it’s up against such category heavyweights such as Quaker Oats, maker of Snapple, and Nestle, which bottles the Nestea brand.

‘We expect to capture more than our fair share of the market,’ says Dimos, but adds that the major ice tea companies will do what they have to do since summer is obviously the most popular time to fight over market share.