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We see them day in and day out and often bring them into our homes to hang out with our families… but we don’t even know their real names. Tsk. Well, now you’ll be more familiar with the mascots you stock your cupboards with or see on T.V. every day – here are the not-so-well known names of 10 advertising characters.
1. Jovny the Vlasic Stork. This is kind of a rumor, actually. You’ll find plenty of sites that reference the Stork’s name, but if you visit the “Meet the Stork” section on the company’s website, there’s no mention of a name at all. I’ve got an inquiry into Vlasic; I’ll be sure to let you know if I hear. UPDATE: I did receive a response from Vlasic, but it was totally canned and didn’t address the issue of the Stork’s name at all. So at this point, I guess it’s still speculation!
2. Bibendum the Michelin Man.
3. Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch.
4. Martin the GEICO gecko (created by the Martin agency, no less).
5. Mrs. Joy Butterworth.
6. Rastus the Cream of Wheat guy.
7. Sascha the Hamm’s Beer bear.
8. Gidget the Taco Bell Chihuahua.
9. Lorraine the Sun-Maid Raisin girl. At least, that’s the name of the girl who posed for the company. You can read about her interesting tale on the Sun-Maid site.
10. Mr. Six, the creepy Six Flags dancing guy.
Are there any you’ve always wondered about? Some of them simply don’t have names as far as I can tell, but I’ll certainly investigate and do a sequel if there are any you’re dying to know about.
Comments (11)
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I always thought the Hamm’s Beer bear was named “Theodore”, a nod to Theodore Hamm (founder of the brewery). A little more research shows that “Sascha” was the name of his wife.
-”BB”-
posted by Bicycle Bill on 12-10-2009 at 4:45 pm
Is there another name for that annoying Aflac duck? Other than “dinner”, of course.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 12-10-2009 at 5:23 pm
I was so bummed when Gidget died, I didnt realize she was a girl, just assumed a boy from the voice in the commercials….
posted by ashley on 12-10-2009 at 5:26 pm
I actually knew about Rastus – one of my friends collects old Cream of Wheat advertisements. My grandfather used to refer to elderly African American men as “Rastus,” which confused me until I noticed one of my friend’s ads referred to the “spokesman” as Rastus.
posted by Megan on 12-10-2009 at 5:30 pm
ol’ bib- how Michlien refers to their mascot-started out when Pierre Michlien-one of the founders- saw a stack of tires that somehow looked like a man.
posted by Sara in AL on 12-10-2009 at 6:32 pm
The first thought I had when I saw this post was The Jolly Green Giant. Whatever happened to him?
posted by Christina on 12-10-2009 at 7:16 pm
Mr. Six is not a mystery everyone knows that is his name, but then again maybe I’m biased because I am a former Six Flags Corp. employee. P.S. it’s always played by a black guy, white guys can’t do the dance.
posted by JWK on 12-11-2009 at 1:04 am
@JWK, i didnt know that the six flags guy was Mr. Six and we have a six flags right in this area thats been here for 4 decades.
posted by Crow88 on 12-11-2009 at 8:14 am
Gilbert Godfried is the voice of the Aflac duck, so maybe his name is Gilbert…
posted by Anne on 12-11-2009 at 10:22 am
@ JWK – I always thought the Six Flags guy was really a girl. He just didn’t seem quite right…
posted by Jaime on 12-11-2009 at 1:34 pm
Wow, Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch…as long as I live I will never forget that now. Hope it comes up in trivia night someday!
IDK if this is a little-known mascot name or what, but I run into a lot of people who don’t know that the Pilsbury Doughboy’s name is actually Poppin’ Fresh. (You may ask yourself why Poppin’ Fresh keeps coming up in my daily conversations…don’t worry, I ask that myself.)
posted by FizzyGurrl on 12-11-2009 at 3:33 pm