Lastman's Bad Boy is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 business headquartered in Weston

Weston, Toronto

Weston is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the northwest end of the city, within the former boundaries of the old City of York. The neighbourhood generally lies south of Highway 401, east of the Humber River, north of Eglinton Avenue, and west of Jane Street. Weston Road just north of...

 with seven other locations in the Greater Toronto Area

Greater Toronto Area

The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...

 and Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...

. It is owned by Blayne Lastman, son of former Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 City Mayor Mel Lastman

Mel Lastman

Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...

. It is famous among the television viewers in Southern Ontario

Southern Ontario

Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...

 largely owing to several memorable advertising campaigns, including a controversial series featuring impersonators of Bill

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 and Hillary Clinton which prompted a response from the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

.

History

The original Bad Boy furniture store was a store Mel Lastman

Mel Lastman

Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...

 (former mayor of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

) bought on Weston Road in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 in 1955. At the age of 22 this rising salesman began a successful chain of some 30 stores across Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

Mel Lastman

Mel Lastman

Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...

 earned a reputation early on for creating publicity stunts to promote the chain. In the 1960s he went to the arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 to 'sell a refrigerator

Refrigerator

A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...

 to an Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

'. But always looking for bigger challenges, Lastman entered politics in 1966, getting elected to the North York Board of Control. He would later run for mayor of the city, getting elected in 1972. It was his later attempt for Provincial office in 1975 that resulted in him selling his chain to a consortium. This chain was later closed http://torontosun.com/Money/2007/08/12/4411845-sun.html.

Its trademark was ultimately acquired by the large furniture chain The Brick, who allowed it to lapse through lack of use until it expired. In 1991, Blayne Lastman (Mel's son) and partner Marvin Kirsh, re-launched the store, over the objections of his father, who felt the economic climate was unsatisfactory.

The store was soon memorable to most television watchers who saw its commercials, which featured the younger Lastman in a prison suit and a cameo by the elder Lastman (then mayor of the Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 suburb of North York), and always ended with the line: "Who's better than Bad Boy?...Nooobody!"

The Clinton affair

In 1993, Lastman saw Clinton impersonator Tim Waters on television, and shortly afterwards contacted him and arranged for a commercial to be shot. The commercial featured Waters dressed as Clinton delivering the classic Nooobody! line.

While merely a mildly amusing commercial to most of the viewing public, Lastman's move did attract some attention, as he soon received a letter from the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 requesting that he "cease and desist

Cease and desist

A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....

 all unauthorized use of the likeness of the President of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 of America in advertising of commercial services and products".http://www.mediamasters.com/profitmg.htm

Lastman and Kirsh refused to stop airing the commercials, and even produced several more, featuring both Waters and a Hillary Clinton  impersonator. "Last time I checked," he later said, "this was Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, not the 51st state

51st state

The 51st state, in United States political discourse, is a phrase that refers to areas either seriously or derisively considered candidates for addition to the 50 states already part of the United States. Before 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii joined the U.S., the term "the 49th state" was used...

."

Sources

Toronto Sun: "Selling the Sizzle" http://torontosun.com/Money/2007/08/12/4411845-sun.html

Mel Lastman: "Mel Lastman's Blog" http://www.mellastman.com