spots, commented that the ads were produced for a fraction of what a standard Canadian TV commercial costs. With tougher economic times, the company has refocused its attention on its "control label" program. According to vice president Paul Uys, "private brands are very important in a recession." Noting the company's renewed competitiveness, he described how some national brands were infringing on the company's own frozen rising-crust pizza sales. Loblaws switched its product from the President's Choice label to No Name, dropped the price by a dollar and gave it prominent display space. Sales subsequently rebounded. Since the launch of No Name in 1978, the generic line has expanded from the original 16 items to more than 2,900 different products. In 2019, Loblaw launched a multi-platform advertising campaign for No Name, with a focus on its "Simple Check" branding for No Name products produced without ingredients such as hydrogenated oil, or artificial colours and flavouring. The campaign relies primarily on self-referential humor relating to No Name's own branding and the clichés of the platform, such as social media posts containing deadpan quips regarding its products ("Social tea biscuits — can be consumed alone"), Twitter posts "liveblogging" the Primetime Emmy Awards with generic statements ("a winner has won again"), Toronto GO trains and a taxi cab with livery mimicking No Name's packaging and social media posts (with the former labelled "for going places"), and a television commercial taking place in a yellow kitchen with every item labeled in Helvetica, and a mom and her children labelled and referred to as "Relatable Adult", "Adorable Child #1", and "Adorable Child #2". See also Yellow Pack (US) Value brands in the UK White-label products - the type of product that "No Name" is if it were sold outside of North America. References External links Canadian brands George Weston Limited brands Store brands 1978 establishments in Canada 1978 introductions