Thursday, May 5, 2016

Vintage Advertising: The Jolly Green Giant

From the May/June 2016, Saturday Evening Post "Scary Giant Finds His Gentler Side."

Created in 1928, the Green Giant was originally the mascot of the Minnesota Valley Canning Company and created to sell their unusually large green peas.  Originally he looked more like a wild-haired caveman wearing a bearskin.

That was until a young Leo Burnett gave him the makeover as he appears today: a green, leafy suit, green skin, a big smile and the word Jolly in front of his name.  It was pointed out that in the first TV ads appeared in 1958, Leo Burnett's agency added the signature "Ho, Ho, Ho" laugh.

To make him even more accessible, a companion, the Little Green Sprout, was added in 1972.

The canning company is now called the Green Giant Company and today is the largest vegetable brand in the world.

And, the Jolly Green Giant has been named one of the top 10 ad icons of the 20th century by Advertising Age magazine.

Ho, Ho, Ho.  --GreenCooter


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