Advertising builds character
Even failures take up brain space
By Todd Leopold
CNN
 | |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on a contest that has Mr. Clean and Charlie the Tuna vying for votes.
|
| FACT BOX |  "Eye on Entertainment" talks about the weekend's happenings on CNN's "Live Today" between 10 a.m. and noon EST Thursday. |
|
(CNN) -- Recently, some of the most notable figures in popular culture gathered in New York to solicit votes.
They were not political candidates, athletes, movie stars or rock musicians.
Try advertising icons.
There they were, the creme de la creme of American (and a little European) creativity: Mr. Clean. Michelin Man. Mr. Peanut. Chiquita Banana. The Kool-Aid Pitcher (aka The Kool-Aid Guy or "Hey, Kool-Aid!"). Ronald McDonald. Green Giant. Tony the Tiger.
They were out to promote a poll co-sponsored by Yahoo and USA Today
looking for the inaugural class of honorees for the Advertising Hall of Fame.
They're well on their way to success, because you know every one of them, don't you?
You can recite their catchphrases ("They'rrrre great!") and sing their songs ("I'm Chiquita Banana and I'm here to say ..."). You've seen them in parodies and eaten the products they represent.
They're all so ensconced in the national psyche, I think I could hear the high-fives from folks at the Leo Burnett Agency in Chicago -- the firm that invented several of the characters -- all the way down here in Atlanta, Georgia.
Those are advertising's successes, however. Of just as much interest are advertising's failures, which often have as much to do with the product being hawked as the pitchman (or -woman, or -cartoon character) doing the hawking.
Remember New Coke? Corfam? Those RJ Reynolds smokeless cigarettes? Bic underwear? (Bic underwear?) Oh, there are countless examples -- and what a fine opportunity to remember.
Eye on Entertainment makes itself a glass of Squoze and looks around for a Marathon bar ("Boxcars -- it's Marathon John!").
Eye-opener
Sometimes you just can't sell the public something new. Such was the case with New Coke, introduced with much fanfare in April 1985. Coca-Cola had been losing market share to Pepsi for some time and had taken a beating from Pepsi's "Pepsi Challenge" ads.
Why not reformulate Coke to taste more like Pepsi?
Whoops. People were not happy. Coca-Cola took a beating, and by fall had reintroduced good ol' Coke -- repackaged as Classic Coke.
I've got a friend who maintains that was the plan all along (see the snopes.com Urban Legend Pages for the many myths of New Coke), but it seems hard to imagine that Coca-Cola actually asked for that much bad publicity.
Then there was Corfam, an attempt at a synthetic leather made by DuPont in the 1960s. Unfortunately, despite a gung-ho advertising campaign, Corfam never caught on -- probably because it was hard to break in and didn't breathe the way leather did, a big problem for shoes.
Other times the advertising itself drives people up the wall. One friend still refuses to buy Scott towels because he couldn't stand the voice of Aunt Bluebell, played by Mae Questal. When I was young, I was frightened of Mother Nature in the Chiffon margarine ads; not exactly the best way of finding new customers.
And though I'm sure his ubiquity has improved the company's visibility, I don't know anyone who likes the Ditech Guy.
Lovable advertising characters may be a thing of the past. Looking over the Yahoo! list, the only creations I see from the 1990s or later are the AFLAC duck and the M&M Guys. The majority of them date from 1975 or earlier -- in some cases (Mr. Peanut, the Michelin Man, the Coppertone Girl) much earlier.
But we live in cynical times, right? Times when a guy choking on meat is used to sell both a pickup truck (Dodge) and a financial services firm (name thankfully forgotten)?
Give me Tony the Tiger -- or that wacky AFLAC duck -- any day.
On screen
Speaking of animal characters, Benji -- the lovable dog who starred in a series of films in the '70s and '80s -- is back. The canine's new film, "Benji: Off the Leash," opens Friday. What happened before "The Exorcist"? "Exorcist: The Beginning" -- a film that's been bedeviled by problems -- tells all. Opens Friday.Seth Green and Matthew Lillard star in "Without a Paddle," a comedy described as a cross between "City Slickers" and "Deliverance." It even has Burt Reynolds in a bit part. Opens Friday.Sound waves
Tim McGraw's new album, "Live Like You Were Dying" (Curb), releases Tuesday.If you're looking for catchy melodies, look no farther than "Everyone Is Here" (Nettwerk), the new album by the Finn Brothers. Comes out Tuesday.The Drive By Truckers' new record, "The Dirty South" (New West), comes out Tuesday. Paging readers
Louis de Bernieres, who wrote the wonderful "Corelli's Mandolin," is back with a new book, "Birds Without Wings" (Knopf). The book is due out Tuesday.Video center
The legendary engineer and producer Tom Dowd is the subject of a documentary, "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music." Dowd was the go-to guy behind the boards -- at Atlantic Records for many years -- for musicians ranging from John Coltrane and Aretha Franklin to Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart. The DVD comes out Tuesday.Another season of "Futurama," this one Volume 4, hits the DVD shelf Tuesday.
