Outrageous Advertising Characters: Watch, Sense, Repeat

Some companies have taken outrageous advertising to the limit, propelling their ad character to the pinnacle of American culture. Any American can rattle off the most outrageous ads in recent years: bikini-clad Paris Hilton shimmying her way all over a car to sell hamburgers, "apply directly to the forehead!" Head On hyper-happy-woman-with-a-headache, or the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich Sun Man shining all over his moody coworkers. We remember these ads because they are loud, borderline obnoxious, and repeated.

You'd think we'd remember the Sun Man without seeing him over and over again. And some people might remember Paris after just one viewing. But we see her and her outrageous compatriots (the Geico gecko, the AFLAC duck, Burger King restaurants' actual Burger King, and the Energizer Bunny) repeatedly. Their ads are on television morning, noon, and night. The awesome part of outrageous advertising isn't the outrageous gimmick itself, but the repeating of the outrageousness over and over and over until the consumer just can't get it out of mind.

Thus, we will never forget Aunt Jemima, the maternal syrup bottle. Or that vegan hunk, the Jolly Green Giant. Or suave CEO Jack of Jack-in-the-Box restaurants. Those goofy elves baking all those cookies in a tree. Or the Marlboro Man, may he rest in peace.

Seen once, we would probably never be able to bring them to mind again. Seen daily, for years, they can become more familiar to us than our own family. As outrageous as the character may be, as colorful or unusual or sexy, the true outrageous nature of the ad is in the repetition.

Watch, sense, repeat.

We see the ad for the first time, maybe hear the jingle or catch a flash of bright color out of the corner of our eye. But something tells us that this is unusual. We sense that this character is more fun or more outrageous or more cute than the typical ad character. Something more. We sense that we should pay attention. Then the repetition starts. And every time that ad comes on the television or radio, we pay attention. The character gradually becomes part of our everyday life, a touchstone during the course of our day, like the counterperson at the coffee house or the security guard at our office building. The ad character becomes part of our community.

The M&M characters were first introduced in 1954 and we still run into them every day. Each color character has his own distinct personality. We can laugh at Red's superiority complex and sympathize with Yellow's woebegone situations. We know them. And it seems that they know us pretty well, as M&Ms are still one of the top selling candies.

Ronald McDonald is recognized by 96% of children in the United States, according to one survey. That is second only to Santa Claus.

The reason we know these characters so well is because we have repeatedly been exposed to them for years. These flamboyant characters caught our attention, and held it, sometimes for decades.

We watched. We sensed. They repeated.

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