By Jamie Bradburn

Could employees turned into corpses or members of the undead in secret government experiments conducted via unethical temp agencies in the late 1960s be the source of Toronto’s love affair with all things zombie?
It’s not just the presence of a coffin that’s askew in today’s ad. Based on the phone our dignified businessman is holding, you decide if:
• Toronto was a test market for early compact portable phones (down south, the FCC cleared the way for frequencies that would be used for early cell phones the year this ad appeared).
• The ad agency hired an overzealous paste-up artist to crop the original photo.
• The model used his kid’s toy receiver.
As an address, 90 Eglinton East still exists as an office building. Current tenants include Easter Seals and Penguin Canada.
Source: Toronto Life, May 1968