- Kool-Aid Man
-
Kool-Aid Man
Kool-Aid Man is the mascot for Kool-Aid, a popular drink mix. The character has appeared on television and print advertising as a fun-loving gigantic pitcher, filled with red Kool-Aid and marked with a fingerpainted smiley face. He is typically featured interrupting children mid-conversation by smashing through walls and furnishings, brandishing a filled pitcher.
Contents
History
Before he was officially the Kool-Aid Man in 1975, he was the “Pitcher Man.” The Pitcher Man was created in 1954 by Marvin Plotts, an art director for a New York-based advertising agency. General Foods had just purchased Kool-Aid from the drink’s creator Edwin Perkins the year before, and Plotts was charged with drafting a concept to illustrate the copy message: “A 5-cent package makes two quarts. " Working from his Chicago home on a cold day, Plotts watched as his young son traced smiley face patterns on a frosty windowpane," recounts Sue Uerling, marketing and communications director for Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History. This inspired Marvin Plotts to create a beaming glass pitcher filled with flavorful drink: the Pitcher Man. From there on the joyful pitcher was on all the Kool-Aid’s advertisements.
In 1975 Kraft Foods created the character’s first costume with arms and legs. He also became more of an action figure in commercials — performing extreme sports and busting through brick walls. Kool-Aid Man is famously known for shouting, “Oh, Yeah!” as he is summoned by thirsty children with the phrase, "Hey, Kool-Aid!". Commercials of the era also featured a catchy jingle, always ending with the Kool-Aid Man's phrase.
By the early 1980s, the Kool-Aid Man had gained substantial popularity. He was the subject of two Kool-Aid man video games for the Atari 2600 (1983) and the Intellivision systems (1993). He was also given his own short-lived comic book series, The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man. This ran for three issues under Marvel Comics from 1984-'85 and continued with issues #4-7 under Archie Comics, with art by Dan DeCarlo, from 1988-'89.[1]
Starting in the late 1980s, the character was given dialogue, and his mouth would be digitally manipulated to "move" while the voice actor spoke. Sometime in the 1990s, the live-action character was retired. From that point until 2008, the character became entirely computer-generated; other characters such as the children remained live-action. In 2000, a new series of commercials were created for Kool-Aid Fierce and Jon Carr was chosen to play Kool-Aid Man.[citation needed] A more recent Kool-Aid commercials featured a new and different live-action Kool-Aid Man playing street basketball and battling "Cola" to stay balanced on a log.
Hastings Museum in Hastings, Nebraska, which opened the first permanent Kool-Aid exhibit in 2002, has Kool-Aid Man’s original costume on display. Made of fiberglass, the costume featured a more prominent face, skinnier body and no clothing. Now, he is made of inflatable nylon and is dressed in a shirt, jeans and shoes.
Cultural appearances and parody
The Kool-Aid Man had made several appearances in the TV series Family Guy.
- In the episode "Death Has a Shadow." In it, he bursts through a wall in a courtroom and shouts, "Oh yeah!". Where upon seeing he created a scene and no one in the room spoke, he slowly backs out of the large hole he had made in the wall.
- In the episode "Peterotica", he is shown sitting in his living room when a man crashes through his wall, causing him to realize how it felt to be the target. Later in the episode, after Peter fell off a train and rolled into the same wall again, the Kool-Aid Man moans in disbelief.
- In "Prick Up Your Ears", after Stewie Griffin panics about the existence of the Tooth Fairy, Brian Griffin and then Chris Griffin fail to calm Stewie down and then Glenn Quagmire makes an attempt. Then the Kool-Aid Man is seen in a pair of boxing gloves at the back of the line behind Cleveland Brown, Mayor Adam West, Herbert, The Evil Monkey, Kilobot and Dr. Elmer Hartman, all of whom are armed with weapons ready to "console" Stewie one-by-one.
- In "Stewie Kills Lois", once Peter is found guilty for murder in the first degree, some people shout "Oh no!" and Kool-Aid Man once again bursts through the wall screaming "OH YEAH!". The judge then complains, considering it has happened twice prior.
- In "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair", Evil Stewie lures him out by pretending to impersonate other people going "Oh No!". When he bursts through the wall, Evil Stewie shatters him. He then drinks the Kool-Aid that spilled all over the floor.
- In "Back to the Pilot" we see the kool-aid man waiting to break through the courthouse like in the very first episode of Family Guy.
References
- ^ Adventures of Kool-Aid Man Comic Vine. Retrieved on 8-12-11.
External links
- http://www.kool-aiddays.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=41/
- http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0861/
- Jamie Knobler, "Kool-Aid: 75 years of smiles", The Loquitur, September 9, 2002
- Nancy Foster, "Pitcher this! – The Life and Times of an American Icon", Hastings Tribune, August 11, 2005
- Kool-Aid Man at MobyGames
Categories:- 1954 introductions
- Beverage advertising characters
- Fictional characters introduced in 1954
- Marvel Comics characters
- Archie Comics characters
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
