Pillsbury Doughboy
Poppin' Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising icon and mascot of The Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials.
He is a small anthropomorphic character apparently made out of dough. When poked in the stomach, he lets out a high-pitched giggle.
Creation
Fresh was though up by the Leo Burnett advertising agency's copywriter, Rudy Perz, as he was sitting in his kitchen in 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign. Perz imagined a living dough boy popping out of a Pillsbury Cresent Rolls can. To distinguish the dough boy from the rolls he gave it a scarf, a chef's hat, two big blue eyes, a blush when girls kissed him, and a high pitched giggle when poked in the stomach. Perz originally concieved Fresh as an animated figure, but changed his mind after seeing seeing a stop-action titling technique used in the opening credits for The Dinah Shore Show. A 3-D Doughboy doll of clay was then created at a cost of $16,000. Paul Frees (the voice of The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky's Boris Badenov) was chosen to be Fresh's voice. Since then, Pillsbury has used Poppin' Fresh in more than 600 commercials for more than 50 of its products.
After Frees' death in 1986, Jeff Bergman, who also did the voiceover for Charlie the Tuna, took over. Today, the high-pitched giggles are done by JoBe Cerny, the on-camera star of Burnett's Cheer detergent ad campaign.
Other
In the 1970's a girlfriend, Poppie, a son, Popper, another son, Bun Bun, a cat, Biscuit, a dog, Flapjack and a bachelor uncle, Rollie of Fresh were sold in Sears stores. Poppie also appeared in some commercials along with Fresh.
External links
For the slang term for American soldiers in World War I and earlier, see doughboy.