The Annual Marshall McLuhan Bulk Candy Festival Never Had a 2nd Edition

December 12, 2023 8:05 AM

Dr. McLuhan's positive views toward people's tastes for unpackaged foods prompted us to refer to our bulk candy promotion as the 1st Annual Marshall McLuhan Bulk Candy Festival. In so doing we meant no disrespect to this great Canadian who is revered and respected throughout the world.
posted by clawsoon (14 comments total)

something something “World War 3 is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.” who needs fucking packaging?
posted by philip-random at 8:27 AM on December 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

He was quite the thing when I was a college student in the 70s...Then he disappeared....The medium is the message.
posted by Czjewel at 8:46 AM on December 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

Jamie Bradburn is an old friend of mine, so it's fun to see this here.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:47 AM on December 12, 2023

What a great & weird find--thanks for posting, clawsoon!

In 1977, McLuhan had a tongue-in-cheek cameo in a fantasy sequence in Annie Hall, in which he dresses down a windbag waiting on line at a movie theater. (cw: Woody Allen) So maybe it wasn't unreasonable to think he would have appreciated the humor in the candy promotion? Though he was dead by then, and estates are less given to self-mockery than the people whose legacies they're preserving.

Anyway, one of the many things I like about this weird story is how plausibly it could appear on a Loblaw law blog.
posted by miles per flower at 8:50 AM on December 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Didn't Parks and Recreation have a similar joke involving the town's claim that some famous person was born there, followed by their claim that they're the home of the "world famous" famous person birthplace libel suit?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:55 AM on December 12, 2023

I hope they settled the McLuhan family's lawsuit with 2 lbs of unpackaged jelly beans.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:21 AM on December 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

Commonly Asked Questions (and Answers)

Why is the title of the book “The medium is the massage” and not “The medium is the message”?

Actually, the title was a mistake. When the book came back from the typesetter’s, it had on the cover “Massage” as it still does. The title was supposed to have read “The Medium is the Message” but the typesetter had made an error. When Marshall saw the typo he exclaimed, “Leave it alone! It’s great, and right on target!”

posted by pracowity at 11:22 AM on December 12, 2023 [6 favorites]

And now I'm sitting here wondering when the last time I saw a Brach's candy setup in a store might have been. Used to be pretty ubiquitous, really.

I did a pilgrimage grocery run to a store that I hate going to but has the most amazing selection of bulk foods ever, and it's always surreal to wander through and see an oil drum size container of country gravy mix, or whatever.

And that ad mentioning orange slices now has me craving those stupid gummy orange slices.
posted by hippybear at 12:26 PM on December 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

it just occurred to me.. is Jordan Peterson the Marshal McLuhan we deserve?

how did I become such a misanthrope
posted by elkevelvet at 12:54 PM on December 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

Please don't use Peterson's name in the same sentence as McLuhan's.

Oops.
posted by hippybear at 1:03 PM on December 12, 2023 [6 favorites]

Also, I guess a really good primer on McLuhan is the documentary McLuhan's Wake from 2002. [1h33m] It's maybe the best overview of the man and the things he was thinking about that I've found. Also, Laurie Anderson is heavily involved, providing narration and soundtrack for the film.

I have a lot of McLuhan floating around my life. The book and the album are both really interesting cultural artifacts, sharing a name but very different experiences. I've read some of his more intellectual papers, and he's an interesting thinker.
posted by hippybear at 2:37 PM on December 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

McLuhan and my communications professor were friends and collaborators, so "Marshall" was name-dropped a bit in our lectures some decades ago. McLuhan must have been busy dying at the time.
posted by pracowity at 3:17 PM on December 12, 2023

“Leave it alone! It’s great, and right on target!”

Marshall liked his puns (I should try to find that comedy skit about the Marshall who rode into a lawless western town without an integrated media theory).

I'll rec books about him by Philip Marchand and Douglas Copeland (a fan).
posted by ovvl at 4:56 PM on December 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

a really good primer on McLuhan is the documentary McLuhan's Wake yt from 2002. [1h33m] It's maybe the best overview of the man and the things he was thinking about that I've found

I'm partial to This Is Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Massage (1967). It's hip and modern (for the time) and and in being so, really emphasizes a central McLuhanism -- that the delivery system is as important as what it's delivering.
posted by philip-random at 9:06 PM on December 12, 2023 [1 favorite]