The Michelin Man
Most people know of this beloved icon simply as The Michelin Man. However, he is in fact named Bibendum, or "Bib" for short. The Latin word Bibendum means to drink, or drinking to be done. Some of the very old advertising campaigns featured Bib holding a drinking glass filled with sharp items that could normally destroy a car tire. The connection and subsequently Michelin's motto, was that Michelin tires could drink up road obstacles.
The Pilsbury Doughboy
The Pillsbury Doughboy actually has a name, and it's Poppin' Fresh. And.. he's not the only one of his kind. In his early days, he had a wife named Poppie Fresh, a child named Baby Bun Bun, grandparents named Grandmommer, and Grandpopper, and a puppy named Flapjack!! All characters were available in vinyl toy form, and you can occasionally find whole sets of the Poppin' Fresh family for sale on ebay.
Mr. Clean
Mr. Clean was created in 1958. In 1962 during a company promotion to give Mr. Clean a first name, he was donned the first name "Veritably". While many believe Mr. Clean to be a genie, he was actually modeled after a United States sailor.
The Jolly Green Giant
The Jolly Green Giant has been around since 1928, and was originally conceived to promote the companies variety of unusually large peas that they sold. When The Jolly Green Giant started appearing in commercials, he was deemed as too scary and menacing, especially when he walked. This is why you see the giant simply standing in the valley with his arms crossed, and uttering nothing else but his jolly "Ho Ho Ho".
Charlie Tuna
I used to love the StarKist tuna commercials, but always thought it was kind of morbid that Charlie's dream was to be caught by a fisherman so he could in essence be "processed" and sold as StarKist tuna! There was a rumor floating around for years that Charlie Tuna's likeness was created by actor James Dean, several years before the StarKist company started using Charlie at their mascot. It stemmed from one of James Dean's friends stating he was with him one night in a Los Angeles diner when Dean sketched out Charlie. This claim has been shunned by both the StarKist company and Tom Rogers, the artist who created Charlie. Furthermore, no real evidence has ever been found to truly support the claim.
Fascinating facts, Darrin! I kind of vaguely remember Poppin' Fresh's family.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and funny!
ReplyDeleteI love the old icons...
Just a quick story, I love and collect all kinds of advertising icons. Charlie Tuna is a favorite though , oddly since I freakin hate TUNA! Havent touched the stuff in 40 years. As a child I loved it! Moms made a tuna salad sandwich with no close competition other than the ones I loved from the Pirate Ship in Disneyland ( they were awesommme ) Then I took a field trip with my 4th grade class to san Pedro Ca. home of the worlds largest tuna canerey, STARKIST. As far back as I can remember I've always had a serious JONES on for mermaids ( the original mascot was a smokin hot merbabe ). Charlie was a pretty cool cat also. I was looking forward to visiting the tuna holy land , the place where the magic happened , it was neither. I was so sickened by the sights and smells from this disgusting factory I have never ever had the slightest bite of the repulsive chicken from the sea again. I cant even stand to walk down the tuna isle in a super market. I am so sickened by the smell that many years ago it got me into trouble and it wasnt a good thing. Most people close to me are aware of my issue and one nite prior to a late nite shift start I entered our briefing room and was immediately sickend by the smell of tuna. People were always eating in the briefing / break room. I angrily blurted out 'who the F is responsible for that smell?" this resulted in getting called into the Cheifs office the following day after a female officers filing of a harrassment charge ( I had no idea ) but thats a much longer story. I actually have a pretty sizable collection of Starkist memorobilia , lamps , radios , figures , button, cartoons etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Pillsbury Dough Boy has a family? Who knew! The Jolly Green Giant has always freaked me out.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting stuff! I always wondered why the Jolly Green Giant said "Ho Ho Ho" anyway! It used to confuse me as a kid! I expected to see a Santa in the commercial! LOL!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Darrin. Didn't the Jolly Green Giant have a little helper called Niblet for awhile?
ReplyDeleteI also love Mr. Peanut, and
The Hamburger Helper hand.
More recently (several years ago there was Oven Mitt from Arby's
Cool post!
ReplyDeletePam: If you saw them I'm positive you'd remember them.
ReplyDeletePat: me too! They're the best!
TikiTommy: Wow! I'll bet a tuna factory would do that to a lot of folks! Just like any meat processing probably would!! Sounds like you collect a lot of cool stuff. You should display it somewhere online, or maybe you already do on Facebook. I'll have to check. Thanks for stopping by!
Kitty: Yup.. there's a thin line between jolly and creepy I guess. LOL
Marlene: HA! I think Ho Ho Ho is synonymous with being Jolly. (or at least it used to be)
Rogue: You are correct! He was the mouthpiece for the Jolly Green Giant, and his name was Sprout. Hamburger Helper was a great one too!
Connie: Thanks Girlie!!
Speaking of smells,ever pass by a breakfast cereal plant? I did back in 2001 when visiting a friend in Iowa and was taken back by how bad the smell was coming out of that place.
ReplyDeleteAlso,anyone else notice how the Pillsbury Doughboy has gotten darker over the years?He no longer matches his hat in color!
Doug: I used to go out to IOWA every summer to visit my family, and many friends and acquaintances were corn farmers. I can imagine how that corn and rice smells when it's being cleaned, pasteurized, or baked!
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