21 Mascots from the 80s

Everyone knows Chester Cheetah and the Kool-Aid Man (Oh yeah!). How about the Burger King kid club gang? We certainly don’t watch commercials like we used to with all these streaming services now (thanks to YouTube 6 second ads) or being able to record your shows and fast forward through commercials.

While having to plan your schedule around your shows in the 80s may seem like a nightmare now, we didn’t know anything better! So during this time, you had nothing better to do than sit through alt hose commercials. While it may have seemed annoying, this was how everyone became familiar with companies’ biggest form of advertising: television.

So here are the top mascots we remember from the 80s to introduce a little nostalgia.

1. Ronald McDonald

Ronald McDonald and his gang of the Hamburglar, Birdie and Grimace were all over 80s commercials as well as all over every restaurant back then. This was also when McDonalds had their delicious cookies but would only include 4 in the pack. They also sold glasses and even had ashtrays for people to use. Crazy how things change, right?

But the biggest memory I have of Ronald McDonald is him sitting on that bench either outside, in the walkway or in the ordering area!

2. Duracell Bunny

We all know the Energizer Bunny that keeps going and going. But do you remember the Duracell bunny? The original bunny? He was also known for the long-lasting quality as the company invested millions into showing him compete in football, race or drumming competition.

Mallory Duracell was the one who launched the Duracell Bunny campaign in 1973 with the “Drumming Bunny” television advertisement, created by the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency. As an alkaline battery, Duracell claim they ran several times longer than older zinc-carbon batteries.

3. Cool Spot

Anyone remember the Cool Spot red dot from 7 Up? He first appeared in 1987, which was also the same year that Fido Dido was licensed to PepsiCo. Here was in a few advergame during the 90s and his own 7 Up adverts on TV.

He didn’t talk, but he did communicate through high-pitched noises as 7 Up marketed itself as “The Uncola”. As far as the video games during the 90s, there was Cool Spot, which was released in 1993-94 for the Sega Genesis, SNES, Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga and MS-DOS.

4. Mr. Soft

If you remember the Trebor soft mints commercial with Mr. Soft, how do you think they ever came up with that? And the commercials they had where everything is white! I do have to give them credit, the song was a bit catchy. If I listened to it more than once, it would definitely be stuck in my head all day. But that’s actually good marketing! The fact that we’re talking about this commercial from 1987 almost 40 years later means it was a big success.

5. Chester Cheetah

Chester Cheetah’s been around for a long time! But he first appeared in 1986. Before him was the Cheeto’s Mouse, who debuted in 1971 and was removed in 1979.

Chester Cheetah was created by Brad Morgan and Stephen Kane who wrote the original scripts for the TV commercials. After starring in multiple commercials, the sly, smooth-voiced cheetah became Cheetos’ official mascot. Their slogans were “It’s not easy being cheesy”, “The cheese that goes crunch!” and then the one you most likely know as “Dangerously cheesy!”

At first, the commercials would feature Chester trying to eat other people’s Cheetos, speaking in rhymes and sneaking up on unsuspecting people at beaches and parks. It had a Looney Tune-like result where Chester rides the motorcycle off a bridge, plunging miles into the air to grab a gorgeous woman, only to let her ago to grab the Cheetos instead.

6. Fido Dido

Fido Dido didn’t make it too long before Cool Spot took over for 7 Up. But he was the cartoon character doodle created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose in a restaurant in 1985. Rose doodled the character while Joanna came up with the his name on the way to work the next day. They later stenciled Fido on t-shirts, which became very popular in New York.

Fido Dido was licensed to PepsiCo in 1988 but didn’t become popular until the early 1990s, when he was on numerous products, stationery and 7-Up ads. But sadly, he was replaced with Cool Spot, but since PepsiCo doesn’t have the rights to 7-Up ads in the US, Fido Dido was used to promote Slice, another flavored soft drink.

7. Kid Vid

Long ago, back in 1989, before the giant-headed BK mascot was used for the world’s 2nd largest fast food chain, kid vid was used as the mascots. They were known as the Burger King Kids Club Gang, comprised of spunky kids and a dog that filled the BK ads with different adventures. The original gang was first introduced as an American Saturday morning cartoon show on NBC’s network from 1984 to 1985. Reruns ran until 1987 until the show was picked up by CBS.

8. Monster Munch

If you live in the UK, you might recognize the four main monsters from Monster Munch. It was a British baked corn snack created by Walkers. Their target market was children as they were widely consumed throughout the UK. Available flavors were Roast Beef, Pickled Onion and Flamin’ Hot. The snacks were also shaped like monster claws or monsters themselves.

In the 1980s, the four monsters were featured on the packaging, although 6 were in the TV advertisements themselves.

9. The Weetabix Gang

The Weetabix Gang was a huge sensation during the 80s, specifically from 1982 – 89. They were represented as a gang of skinheaded beaver boys with white shirts, drainpipe jeans and braces. While it was certainly different than what most cereal brands would choose, it worked very well.

The gang had five members:

• Dunk – the leader
• Brains – the smart one with glasses
• Crunch – the muscular one
• Bixie – the unspoken female
• Brian – the simple one, always shouting “OK!”

Throughout the commercials, The Weetabix Gang were shown parading around a breakfast table, singing a song on how they were against “titchy breakfasts of airy-fairy cereals” and “breakfast fit for sparrows”.

10. Snap, Crackle and Pop

Everyone knows the Snap, Crackle and Pop gang. They’ve been around since 1933! While they were originally designed by Vernon Grant in the early 1930s, the names were derived from a Rice Krispies radio ad: “Listen to the fairy song of health, the merry chorus sung by Kellogg’s Rice Krispies as they merrily snap, crackle and pop in a bowl of milk. If you’ve never heard food talking, now is your chance.” The first character appeared on the packaging in 1933, followed by the following two to create the trio.

In the 1980s, these guys were one of the main commercials across multiple networks. They have a huge reputation and have just ingrained themselves into our minds so when we think “Snap Crackle”, you automatically know “pop” is next. Thanks to Rice Crispies!

11. Mr. Wimpy

Mr. Wimpy was the official mascot for Wimpy restaurants, a fast food chain that’s been gradually updating to casual dining style diners with table service since their change of ownership in 2007. The Wimpy chain started in 1934 and grew to about 1,500 locations in several counties before narrowing down to two countries. They serve mostly grilled dishes, hamburgers, fries, breakfast food and beverages.

In the 1980s, Mr. Wimpy was like the clown at all kids parties! But since then, the company re-branded and dumped the famous mascot.

12. Cheerios Kid and Sue

The Cheerios Kid and his sidekick Sue were first introduced during the mid-1950s where The Kid, after eating Cheerios, quickly overcame problems in the commercial, using phrases like “Go-power” and “Big-G, little-o”. Although the commercial lost traction by the late 60s.

In the 80s, The Kid and Sue were revived in a few 80s commercials. Even in 2012, they made an appearance in an internet video to show how Cheerios “can lower cholesterol”. Then finally in a 2014 TV commercial, they were part of a montage along with clips of the Honey Nut Cheerios bee’s commercials.

13. Spuds Mackenzie

One of the best ways to grab attention is to incorporate dogs! You might want to check out my famous blog on famous dogs from the 80s to read more about it. But Spuds was used for a few Bud Light commercials during the late 1980s and came from a 23-year-old art director, Jon Moore.

The dog who played Spuds was a female bull terrier, Honey Tree Evil Eye, or Evie. She first showed up in a Bud Light Super Bowl XXI ad in 1987, but shortly after its release, it spiked a lot of controversy.

The ad came under attack and calls for censor ship by temperance-oriented groups as well as claims that the beer company was using the dog to appeal to kids to start drinking at an early age. At the end of 1987, the use of Spuds dressed as Santa was illegal in some states, which resulted in legal action against Budweiser.

14. Bart Simpson

The famous TV show character Bart Simpson from The Simpsons was used to heavily advertise the famous candy bar Butterfinger in 1988. His famous line was “nobody lay a finger” on his Butterfinger as he struggled to keep hungry people away. Even Homer was featured trying to steal Bart’s Butterfinger. Eventually, this tagline was changed to “Bite My Butterfinger!” in the late 80s and then finally “Nothin’ like a Butterfinger!” in 2000. He’s still in the Butterfinger commercials to this day!

15. Joe Camel

You remember the famous Joe Camel from Camel cigarettes? Well he ran from late 1987 to July 12, 1997, appearing in magazine ads, billboards and other print media.

This history of this mascot was that the marketing team of R.J. Reynolds (RJR) was looking for an idea to promote the company’s 75th anniversary, and looked back to the caricatured camel that was actually created in 1974 by a British artist, Nicholas Price, for a French advertising campaign.

Joe Camel first appeared in the U.S. in 1988 in numerous Camel brands ads by Drone Advertising. Many described Joe as a “smooth character”. And he was! But of course as the realization that smoking is a dangerous habit spread, Joe was phased out.

But even today, there is still an adult-themed campaign with a plain camel featured on the front of the cigarette packs today.

16. Mr. Whipple

Mr. George Whipple, also known as George the Grocer, was a fictional supermarket manager featured in TV commercials, print and radio ads that ran from 1964 to 1985 for Charmin toilet paper.

Usually, Mr. Whipple would scold customer who “squeezed the Charmin”, just before he did the same when nobody was looking. The very first commercial featured Mr. Whipple setting the tone of the campaign, which was designated by Advertising Age as among the top 100 in the 20th century. He is first shown looking around the corner of the supermarket at a female shopper, commenting that she first squeezes the tomatoes, then melons and when she arrives as the Charmin TP, he approaches her with his famous plea “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!”

After changing the ad campaign, Charmin went with 3 cartoon bears and how they love the feel of Charmin toilet paper after they do their business.