Speaker 1: Guess what gave? What's that? Will? Do? You know it's
Speaker 1: been over seventy years since Smokey Bear started saying, and
Speaker 1: we all know this phrase, only you can prevent forest fires? Wow,
Speaker 1: is it really been that long? He's been at a while.
Speaker 1: He has been at it a while. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'd actually forgotten that it was only a few years
Speaker 1: after Smokey was created that this real live bear cup
Speaker 1: kind of became this living symbol of Smokey after he
Speaker 1: was rescued. There had been this raging forest fire in
Speaker 1: New Mexico, and unfortunately he was rescued and and thanks
Speaker 1: to those who saved him, he recovered fully and ended
Speaker 1: up being moved to the National Zoo in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Now that's where people fell in love with Smokey And
Speaker 1: it was during and after his recovery they started sending
Speaker 1: him letters and even gifts of honey. And I think
Speaker 1: this is hilarious and and just really cute that so
Speaker 1: many people did that. But he got so many letters
Speaker 1: that he even ended up with his own zip code.
Speaker 1: It was two oh two five too, that was dedicated
Speaker 1: to Smokey Bear. That's so great. How many letters are
Speaker 1: we talking about? Though now apparently at the high of
Speaker 1: Smokey popularity, we're talking thirteen thousand a week. Thirteen thousand
Speaker 1: a week. I mean, that's like Beatles level fandom is
Speaker 1: just unbelievable. Now, Smokey lived at the National Zoo for
Speaker 1: twenty six years before he passed away, so I had
Speaker 1: a good life. But you know, of course, the illustrated
Speaker 1: Smokey we all know from the ad campaigns lives on.
Speaker 1: So I've seen figures that claim Smokey is recognized by
Speaker 1: as much as ninety five percent of American adults. So
Speaker 1: thanks to the song by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins,
Speaker 1: most of us grew up knowing him as Smokey the Bear.
Speaker 1: I don't know, did you refer to him as Smokey
Speaker 1: the Bear as a kid? Gave me to me to
Speaker 1: In fact, it's really hard not to say that, but
Speaker 1: either way, he's a pretty cool mascot. And today's show
Speaker 1: is all about mascots, we thought we'd share some of
Speaker 1: our favorite stories behind several of the company mascots we
Speaker 1: grew up with. In fact, Smokey is just the first
Speaker 1: of nine, so let's dive in. Ya Hey there, podcast
Speaker 1: listeners welcome, to part time genius. I'm Will Pearson and
Speaker 1: today I'm joined by our good friend and researcher, Gabe Bluesier. Gabe,
Speaker 1: how's it going going well? Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: The man goes on vacation with his family. Hopefully he's
Speaker 1: having a great time. But not to worry, there's still
Speaker 1: another familiar face over there on the other side of
Speaker 1: the soundproof glass, wearing the coolest pair of shades I
Speaker 1: think I've ever seen him wear, and he's worn lots
Speaker 1: of cool shades here. But you know, honestly, at first
Speaker 1: I thought he was just being lazy with today's theme.
Speaker 1: I didn't really get it. But then, Gabe, you know
Speaker 1: what he did. He pulled out a snack pack of
Speaker 1: Cheetos and I knew it. Yeah, sure, I get it.
Speaker 1: He sees Chester the Cheetah. That's right, Chester the Cheetah. Anyway,
Speaker 1: nice job, Tristan, All right, Gabe. So I kicked this
Speaker 1: off with some facts about Smokey Bear. So which mascot
Speaker 1: do you want to start with? Well, I thought I'd
Speaker 1: start with one of the earliest brand mascots I can
Speaker 1: think of, which is actually the michelin Man who made
Speaker 1: his debut in Paris way back in eight and I mean,
Speaker 1: you know this guy, right, well, of course he kind
Speaker 1: of looks like a gooey mummy or that marshmallow Man
Speaker 1: from Ghost marshmallow Man. That's what he looks. That's what
Speaker 1: I always thought about. Well, I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I always wondered why he was all white like
Speaker 1: that because the company's founder, you know, he got the
Speaker 1: idea for the character after noticing that a stack of
Speaker 1: tires kind of resembled a limbless man. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: if you squint so, but if that's the case, then
Speaker 1: why not make him all black? Right? Well, as it
Speaker 1: turns out, tires weren't colored black until nineteen twelve. Before that,
Speaker 1: they were either beige or gray white. So while the
Speaker 1: Michelin Man might look a little off to us today,
Speaker 1: his look was right on target back in the late
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, and in fact, in December of eighty eight,
Speaker 1: the Michelin Man got his first and only speaking engagement
Speaker 1: at a Paris cycle show, and the crowd loved him.
Speaker 1: One of the company's co founders, Andre michelin He had
Speaker 1: arranged for this large cardboard cutout of the character to
Speaker 1: be set up at the michelin booth and then he
Speaker 1: paid this cabaret comedian to crouch behind the cut out
Speaker 1: and kind of banter with the crowd. Well, the performance
Speaker 1: was such a hit that police actually had to come
Speaker 1: break up the unruly crowd for a cardboard cutout. It
Speaker 1: really kind of makes you wonder what the entertainment options
Speaker 1: were at that point. You said that back in the
Speaker 1: late eighteen nineties, Is that right? Yeah? And you know,
Speaker 1: even though the michelin Man hasn't talked very much since
Speaker 1: that event, he's had quite a lot to say in print.
Speaker 1: And that's because when the company launched an Italian travel
Speaker 1: magazine in n seven, the michelin Man was given his
Speaker 1: very own column. And as it turns out, he can
Speaker 1: be a pretty scary guy. Like in one article, he
Speaker 1: praised his company's success while deriding his tire selling rivals
Speaker 1: as quote ashen faced suitors with fixed smile, living symbols
Speaker 1: of a shattered illusion. It's pretty intense, right, That is wild. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So so he ended up with a column and an
Speaker 1: Italian travel magazine. That's not something I'd ever guessed. And
Speaker 1: I didn't know that either. About the h the tires,
Speaker 1: that's pretty interesting. So they used to be beije or
Speaker 1: or kind of a whitish color. I had no idea.
Speaker 1: All right, well, I'm gonna actually stick with that Italian theme.
Speaker 1: You talk about the Italian travel magazine, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: go with a different mascot with a connection to Italy
Speaker 1: as well. Now, I think we've talked about Tony the
Speaker 1: Tiger on the show before, and the fact that he
Speaker 1: wasn't the only frost in Flakes mascot at first, and
Speaker 1: you know, Tony had to beat out Katie the Kangaroo
Speaker 1: and a bunch of others to become the real star
Speaker 1: that he is today. But what I didn't remember was
Speaker 1: that during the nineteen seventies we actually started to get
Speaker 1: to you know, didn't know his family a little bit more.
Speaker 1: We didn't realize he had a family before, and so
Speaker 1: TV viewers got to meet his mother. Her name was
Speaker 1: Mama Tony. His wife was also miss his Tony and
Speaker 1: his son, and he guesses, I'm gonna go out on
Speaker 1: a living and say, Tony Jr. I think you picked
Speaker 1: up on the pattern here, Gabe and his daughter was Antoinette.
Speaker 1: So you can see the kind of clever connection there,
Speaker 1: and it was this big, happy Italian family, and apparently
Speaker 1: a family that was so appreciated for his heritage that
Speaker 1: he appeared on the cover of the Italian edition of
Speaker 1: g Q. That's Tony the Tiger on the Italian edition
Speaker 1: of g Q. That's great, alright, So so what do
Speaker 1: you have next for escape? All right? Well, you just
Speaker 1: talked about probably one of the most likable mascots in history.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go in the opposite direction and tell
Speaker 1: you about one of the most annoying, and that would
Speaker 1: be none other than the Noid, the role like claymation
Speaker 1: character the Domino's debut in the eighties. And if you've
Speaker 1: managed to avoid the Noid so far and you've never
Speaker 1: seen him, he was this, uh, this creepy little guy
Speaker 1: in the skin tight red onesie with these bent up
Speaker 1: rabbit ears on top. And and the idea was that
Speaker 1: he was a quote, a physical manifestation of all the
Speaker 1: challenges inherent in getting a pizza delivered in thirteen minutes
Speaker 1: or less. So you know, he literally put the nooied
Speaker 1: in annoyed. That was the idea, And and Dominoes used
Speaker 1: him in a string of commercials throughout the eighties and
Speaker 1: and so this you know, obnoxious little mascot would show
Speaker 1: up and crushed people's pizzas or mess up their orders,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, the character he just really took off.
Speaker 1: And in fact, he even got his own Nintendo game
Speaker 1: called Yournoid, So that's how far this went. But uh,
Speaker 1: then things took a dark turn for the character, and
Speaker 1: on January nine, a man with a revolver stormed Domino's
Speaker 1: Pizza in Atlanta, Georgia and took two employees hostage. So
Speaker 1: there was five hour standoff with the police and during
Speaker 1: that time, the gunman actually he still he forced the
Speaker 1: hostages to keep making him pizza after pizza. It's it's
Speaker 1: a nightmare. But thankfully the two employees they were able
Speaker 1: to escape unharmed and their captor was was apprehended. But
Speaker 1: here's the wildest part. The guy is name Lamarnoid. So
Speaker 1: was this the reason that he decided to hold these
Speaker 1: people hostage because of the mascot or what? Apparently, as
Speaker 1: one police officer later explained, the staling had quote an
Speaker 1: ongoing feud in his mind with the owner of Domino's
Speaker 1: Pizza about the annoyed commercials. So apparently the whole ordeal.
Speaker 1: It just came about because this guy thought Dominoes that
Speaker 1: invented the nooid to personally make fun of him. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's bizarre. All right. Well, the next mascot I want
Speaker 1: to talk about might not have caused any standoffs in
Speaker 1: any pizza locations or anything like that, but he definitely
Speaker 1: annoyed a lot of people. Now, Gabe, you might be
Speaker 1: too young for this. In fact, I kind of hope
Speaker 1: for you and Tristan that you dodged this one. But
Speaker 1: are you familiar with Microsoft Bob? Uh? No? I can't
Speaker 1: say it rings any bells. Okay, Well, consider yourself lucky,
Speaker 1: because Bob was created to help people get to know
Speaker 1: Windows ninety five a little bit better. And so Bob
Speaker 1: would take you through his house, which was actually your computer,
Speaker 1: and he had all the he's weird and kind of
Speaker 1: creepy friends to help you along the way. There was
Speaker 1: this coffee drinking lizard, there was an angry parrot, and
Speaker 1: all of these others. But it was actually kind of
Speaker 1: funny reading about the focus groups that were used to
Speaker 1: test out Bob and all these other characters before the
Speaker 1: product came out. Now, the women in the groups reported
Speaker 1: that the characters were too male, and that they felt
Speaker 1: a little creeped out by them, as though they were
Speaker 1: actually watching them. So you know, somehow the products still
Speaker 1: made it to market despite this. Oh and there's one
Speaker 1: last thing, one more reason that probably a lot of
Speaker 1: people are very angry about Bob's creation, and that's because
Speaker 1: he's responsible for the typing font that's probably caused more
Speaker 1: anger than any other in history, and that's Comic Sands.
Speaker 1: It was apparently created just for Bob, and Bob you know,
Speaker 1: not surprisingly only lasted about a year. Yeah, wow, what
Speaker 1: a legacy. No kidding, all right, Gabe, So what do
Speaker 1: you have next? Okay, so I admit I was looking
Speaker 1: for an excuse to talk about one of my favorite mascots,
Speaker 1: which of course is Mr Pinot. I wouldn't have guessed that.
Speaker 1: But the problem is he doesn't have that great of
Speaker 1: an origin story. Like back in nineteen sixteen, the Planters
Speaker 1: Company launched this contest to design a mascot for their brand.
Speaker 1: And you know this this young schoolboy he submitted the
Speaker 1: winning sketch and then a commercial artist added the trademark
Speaker 1: top hat monocle when Kane and you know, it's pretty
Speaker 1: standard stuff as far as origins go, right, Well, I
Speaker 1: kept digging, and while I didn't find much on the
Speaker 1: real Mr Peanut, I did find a pretty amazing story
Speaker 1: about a Mr Peanut impersonator tried to become the mayor
Speaker 1: of Vancouver before this is true. Now, the man behind
Speaker 1: this was really an artist named Vincent Trasof and he
Speaker 1: considered his performance art persona of Mr Peanut to be
Speaker 1: a symbol of artists. And you know there's sometimes nutty
Speaker 1: ambitions and and he really went all out with this campaign,
Speaker 1: Like he wore the big bulky Mr Peanut costume, and
Speaker 1: he went out on all these random public appearance is
Speaker 1: and he would tap dance to pennies from Heaven. Apparently
Speaker 1: that was his number. But for his campaign platform, he
Speaker 1: even turned Peanut into an acronym which stood for performance, elegance, art, nonsense,
Speaker 1: uniqueness and talent. I think I think nonsense is the
Speaker 1: key part of that one there. Well, they're all hallmarks
Speaker 1: of a peanut, Let's be honest. But well, tras obs
Speaker 1: elect a nut for mayor. Campaign did bring international attention
Speaker 1: to Vancouver's mayoral race. It was, I'm sad to say,
Speaker 1: an unsuccessful bid. They ended up with a human mayor again. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I can't believe it. With that that brilliant
Speaker 1: acronym and all that. That's a that's really surprising. All right, Well, Gabe,
Speaker 1: I think I might have stumbled into the most dysfunctional
Speaker 1: family of company mascots. And this was by accident stumbling
Speaker 1: into this. I had no idea that they were even
Speaker 1: related before. So are you familiar with the board and
Speaker 1: brand of milk? Uh? Yeah, I've seen. That's the one
Speaker 1: with the cow on the front. Yes, And that cow
Speaker 1: is named Elsie and she's been the scott for the
Speaker 1: brand for something like eighty years now. But what I
Speaker 1: didn't know is that her husband, Elmer, is the Elmer
Speaker 1: of Elmer's Glue. How bizarre is this? Did you know this? No,
Speaker 1: you're blowing now The story gets even weirder, So hanging
Speaker 1: there for just a minute. So back in the forties,
Speaker 1: Elsie apparently became this really popular mascot and the company
Speaker 1: decided to start this series of magazine ads and they
Speaker 1: were a bit more like comics, and the whole purpose
Speaker 1: was to just make her more of a household name,
Speaker 1: and in the comics you'd get to know her. You
Speaker 1: get to know her family, and that included her incredibly
Speaker 1: grumpy husband Elmer. And grumpy is actually an understatement here.
Speaker 1: So in every single one of these comics, Elmer was
Speaker 1: ticked off, sometimes waving guns, other times screaming, and some
Speaker 1: of them he accused Elsie of things like regretting being
Speaker 1: married to him. You wonder about these people in these
Speaker 1: marketing meetings and you know, coming up with the ideas
Speaker 1: of what their mascots are going to do, and you
Speaker 1: just think, why did this take a turn in this direction?
Speaker 1: But anyway, of course, later for some reason, when Borden
Speaker 1: decided to launch a brand of glue, they decided that
Speaker 1: who else should be their mascot but Elmer, and I
Speaker 1: guess he was able to pull it together enough to
Speaker 1: pose for the illustration. But seriously, it's worth looking at
Speaker 1: these comics because they are that bizarre. Yeah, no kidding,
Speaker 1: But I'm curious, like, why would dairy companies start making
Speaker 1: glue in the first place? Like what's the connection there? Oh? Wait,
Speaker 1: is it the whole like glue factory thing? Like was
Speaker 1: it the hoops? That's pretty dark? That would that would
Speaker 1: be a good guess, but it would have been the
Speaker 1: case and at that point, and that that's the protein
Speaker 1: and dairy milk. Of course, today the glue is made
Speaker 1: with synthetic materials. Nothing involving the cows at this point,
Speaker 1: but um, but yeah, that's where it all came from.
Speaker 1: So just the bizarre story and stumbling into that one
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. All right, Well, we each
Speaker 1: have one more fact to go, but before we get
Speaker 1: to those, let's take a quick break. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius where we're talking company Mascot's all right, Gabe,
Speaker 1: we each have one fact to go. What's your last
Speaker 1: one for the day. Well, you just told us about,
Speaker 1: you know, the disgruntled bull Elmer, and I actually went
Speaker 1: with another four legged mascot who's kicked up his share
Speaker 1: of controversy over the years as well, and that's Joe Cammell.
Speaker 1: And you know, of course the character has always taken
Speaker 1: a lot of heat for, you know, being a pretty
Speaker 1: blatant attempt to get children interested in smoking. But I
Speaker 1: have to say, as a kid, I was more confused
Speaker 1: by Joe Cammell than anything else. Like, I've didn't understand
Speaker 1: why a product for adults would use a cartoon character.
Speaker 1: But more than that, I didn't understand why anyone would
Speaker 1: think a camel was cool in the first place, like,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of trendiness and aesthetic appeal, and
Speaker 1: camels don't have a little bit weird. I'm with you
Speaker 1: on that, right, So I was all the more surprised
Speaker 1: to find out that Joe Cammell actually got his start
Speaker 1: in France, of all places. He was originally introduced in
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy four issue of a French youth magazine
Speaker 1: called Pilot, and the campaign was so successful and its
Speaker 1: goal to quote youth in the brand that in the
Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties, cigarette execs in the US started recruiting
Speaker 1: the so called Funny Camel for the Throne ads. And
Speaker 1: not only did this US version draw from the French campaign,
Speaker 1: it also apparently borrowed his cool look from a later
Speaker 1: Canadian ad that had shown the camel wearing a leather
Speaker 1: jacket while shooting pool and playing electric guitar, So they
Speaker 1: went a little overboard with that. But despite him being
Speaker 1: kind of the fonsie of camel's, Joe was used for
Speaker 1: a decidedly uncool purpose, and that's peer pressure. According to
Speaker 1: a secret memo that the ad campaign's co developer wrote
Speaker 1: to the company's vice president. The camel ads were to
Speaker 1: be quote directed towards using peer acceptance and influence to
Speaker 1: motivate the target audience to take up cigarettes. So unco, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's definitely not cool. Well, you know what gave. I
Speaker 1: feel like we need to close on a happier note
Speaker 1: with our last fact here. And I've got good news
Speaker 1: for you. I know you're a fan of cooking, and
Speaker 1: so I found a new cookbook for you, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have it waiting for you here in Atlanta the
Speaker 1: next time that you're here. And it's called the Chiquida
Speaker 1: Banana Recipe Book, and it's published by United Fruit Company.
Speaker 1: This was back in nineteen seven, and it's kind of
Speaker 1: weird to think about a time when bananas were considered
Speaker 1: this exotic fruit and people didn't know exactly what to
Speaker 1: do with them. And so now you have this cookbook
Speaker 1: to tell you exactly what to do. But there are
Speaker 1: a ton of suggestions for how to use bananas and recipes.
Speaker 1: And I know you're a vegetarian gay, but I found
Speaker 1: this recipe in here that that might make you change
Speaker 1: your mind. And it's for ham banana rolls. With cheese sauce,
Speaker 1: and I want to confess it almost makes me gag
Speaker 1: a little bit just saying the name of that recipe.
Speaker 1: But but what do you think you think it's worth
Speaker 1: a try? Yeah, I mean, if anything's gonna get me
Speaker 1: back on the meat wagon, that that's probably it. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: for your bravery and willingness on that front, I think
Speaker 1: that alone gives you the fact Off trophy. So congratulations, Gabe. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's an honor. Thank you, will and thanks to Eves
Speaker 1: jeff Cote for her help with today's research. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with a full length episode tomorrow