Mental Floss

POP CULTURE









Steven Leung via Flickr

When art school dropout Ralph Shaffer was hired by American Greetings to illustrate greeting cards in 1964, the 23-year-old was tasked with depicting delicate flower petals and hopping bunny rabbits.

Jake Rossen


By Diego Moya - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

As we now know, 'Pac-Man' was a massive hit, and its grip on pop culture is still strong today. But 'Pac-Man's success was far from certain; its designer initially had no interest in games, and the public reaction to it was initially mixed.

Mental Floss UK


Mr. Peanut attends the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

In the 1970s, Mr. Peanut ran for mayor of Vancouver on the “Peanut Party” ticket. He was endorsed by novelist William S. Burroughs and received 3.4 percent of the vote—which isn't peanuts.

Jake Rossen