One of my current gigs is writing the quiz that appears every Sunday in the “Together” section of the Toronto Star. Readers have asked me about the stories behind some of the more unusual questions I’ve included. This is one of those stories.
A 1983 TV spot featuring Dave Nichol promoting the Insider’s Report.
A year into its existence, Loblaws’ Insider’s Report flyer had created plenty of buzz. Full of colourful writing and unbridled enthusiasm for the latest products to hit store shelves, it made the average Loblaws customer feel like a foodie-in-training. With each new issue, the question was what discoveries and goofiness would Dave Nichol and his team come up with next?
The front page of the September 1984 edition led off with the following message from Nichol, which also references head writer/former Toronto Star food editor Jim White:
All Insider’s Report images in this post from the Toronto Star, September 8, 1984.
But not everyone was amused with some of that issue’s loopier ideas, such as this one which appeared on page 3 alongside pitches for discounted Italian grapes and No Name equivalents of Cheez Whiz and Nutella:
McLuhan couldn’t lend any further thoughts on bulk food, having passed away four years earlier. As for his family they, according to Anne Kingston in her Nichol bio The Edible Man, were “not pleased about the revered mass-media theorist being lumped in with jelly beans.”
Marshall McLuhan, 1967. Photo by Frank Lennon. Toronto Star Photo Archive, Toronto Public Library, tspa_0067519f.
McLuhan’s widow threatened a lawsuit. The matter was settled quietly out of court, and, following one more mention of the festival in a Loblaws ad, an apology was issued.
Toronto Star, September 15, 1984.
After this incident, a corporate lawyer was assigned to compile a list of famous people and their estates who had successfully sued retailers for unauthorized use of their names. The list ran the alphabet, ranging from artist Ansel Adams to Dragnet star Jack Webb. After reading a few names, some festivals-that-never were came to mind—how about a Bela Lugosi Halloween Candy Spectacular? The Elvis Presley Peanut Butter and Banana Celebration?
One celeb whose estate doesn’t appear to have raised any complaints about their appearance in the same issue: Albert Einstein.
Perhaps the Insider’s Report team should have listened to the advice they included on page 14 (which also includes a sketch of Howard Cosell).
Globe and Mail, October 28, 1968.
Postscript: while trying to find any other newspaper stories linking McLuhan and bulk food, I found an ad where he was listed among the signatories of a letter to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau urging stronger Canadian intervention (and possibly the delivery of more bulk food) in the Biafran War.
Jamie Bradburn's Tales of Toronto 