Hey, Mister!

For your frittering pleasure: a Flickr set of “weird advertising characters” that’s a nostalgiafest, a kitschapalooza, and a bizarrorama. Step right up and see the seppuku-ing pig, the martini-sipping pink poodle, the shockingly un-PC Frito Bandito, the Doggie Diner doggie, the Chicken of the Sea mermaid, and much, much more.

Including, I’m happy to report, a trove of “mister” names and mascots.

 

Mr. Sketch water color markers. Credit: Waffle Whiffer. (Read my Visual Thesaurus column about other “sketch” trademarks!)

 

Mr. Chicken Plank. No idea what he was selling, but he had a companion called Miss Fish Fillet. Credit: Waffle Whiffer.

 

Mister Provolone, an Italian brand. Do you suppose he’s met Mister Baby? Credit: Zellaby.

 

Mr. Blobby marshmallows, a UK brand from the 1990s. They’re blobbilicious! Credit: Jason Liebig.

 

 

You could get blintzes at Mr. Perky’s! Tray liner, c. 1960s. Credit: Poptartsbox

Mr. Melon watermelon candy. Credit: Wafflewhiffer.

 

Mr. Contac, pill-head. Via Pinterest.

 

There’s also a quite charming but non-downloadable Mr. Pickle photo. And in the non-mister category, I’m awfully fond of Pump ’n’ Munch.

Via AdFreak.

Comments

[CGHill]

The Long John Silver's chain sells what they call "chicken planks," of approximately Mr. Chicken Plank's shape, so I'm guessing that the supplier thereof is offering a similar product to other eateries.

[twitter.com/hush6]

Hi Nancy,

Mr. Blobby was more than a marshmallow. He was a squeaky, squealing, bizarro-world character on a UK TV show. Despite his pink-and-yellow-polka-dotty appearance, I find him slightly terrifying. You can see him here, if you dare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NngdWbvpztk

[pj]

Yep, I just clicked through to the comments to say more or less what hush6 did: Mr Blobby wasn't created as a product brand; the marshmallows (of whose existence I had no idea) would be just an opportunistic spin-off merchandise venture on the back of the popularity of the BBC TV character.
(His initial role was as the instrument of practical jokes against celebrities, who were duped into filming with this clumsy, childlike character supposedly for a new children's TV show, while the actor inside went about deliberately humiliating and exasperating them in various ways. Here he is with the England rugby union captain, for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I06fRQlJGwQ&feature=related )

[The Name Inspector]

Oh, thank you for this link! My dad (now retired) was a commercial artist who specialized in package design. He did several cereal boxes for General Mills and came up with some weird product characters of his own, including the clown on the 1980s Circus Fun cereal box: http://www.flickr.com/photos/somethingretro/6263894793/.