Charlie the Tuna

Charlie the Tuna is the cartoon mascot and spokes-tuna for the StarKist brand. He was created in 1961 by Tom Rogers<ref name="Holley" /> of the Leo Burnett Agency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> StarKist Tuna is owned by Dongwon Industries, a South KoreaTemplate:En dashbased conglomerate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Charlie is one of the most recognized characters in American advertising.<ref name="Adweek" />

History

Creation

Charlie the Tuna was based on Tom Rogers' friend Henry Nemo. Nemo is known as the "creator of jive", which resembles the loose-lipped slang used by Charlie the Tuna.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Campaign

The advertisements depicted Charlie (voiced by actor Herschel Bernardi) as a hipster, originally a lower class New York accented beatnik wearing a beret and thick glasses who believes that his hip, cultured "good taste" make him a perfect catch for StarKist, but he is always rejected. Announcer Danny Dark explains to him "Sorry, Charlie!"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some advertisements ended with Charlie encouraging viewers to "Tell 'em, Charlie sent you". Earlier advertisements would have some other form of sea life saying "But Charlie, StarKist does not want tunas with good taste; they want tunas that taste good." These commercials were animated by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises.<ref>Interview with David Depatie; extra feature on the Here Comes the Grump box set</ref> "Sorry, Charlie" became a popular American catchphrase.<ref name="WSJ" />

The Charlie character appeared in more than 85 advertisements for StarKist until the 1980s, when the campaign was retired. Herschel Bernardi, the original voice of the character, died on May 9, 1986.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Charlie made a comeback in 1999, when StarKist revived him to introduce a new line of tuna products marketed as healthy.<ref name="WSJ">Template:Cite news</ref> He has been the mascot of the company since then and is one of the most-recognized brand mascots in American advertising.<ref name="Adweek">Template:Cite news</ref>

Dark died on June 13, 2004, while Rogers died on June 24, 2005.<ref name="Holley">Template:Cite news</ref>

Legacy

Template:Refimprovesect Los Angeles radio personality and voiceover artist Charlie Tuna (real name: Art Ferguson) chose his on-air name early in his career upon the departure of another Oklahoma City disc jockey.Template:Fact All disc jockeys at KOMA were told to draw their on-air names out of a hat, and by the time Chuck Riley picked his on-air name out of a hat, every name had been drawn except for "Charlie Tuna". Riley used the name for a week, and then left. His replacement, Art Ferguson, inherited the name, and he would keep the Charlie Tuna name upon relocating first to Boston and then Los Angeles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Fact

American football head coach Bill Parcells earned the nickname "The Big Tuna" when he responded to an obviously false statement from a player with the incredulous "Who do you think I am? Charlie the Tuna?"Template:Citation needed

American hip-hop star Chali 2na chose his rap name by slightly modifying the name Charlie Tuna, a nickname his uncle gave him in his youth.Template:Fact

During the production of the 2017 film The Shape of Water, director Guillermo del Toro remarked of the creature in the film: "[The] character is called 'Charlie' on the call-sheet by reference to the StarKist mascot Charlie the Tuna. 'We wanted to play the ad on TV', he says, 'but StarKist didn't want to have anything to do with a movie like this. The nickname stayedTemplate:'".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Charlie the Tuna makes a cameo appearance in the 2012 animated film Foodfight! and is also featured on the North American home video cover art of it.Template:Fact

Charlie the Tuna was shown in MasterCard's 2005 "Icons" commercial which was shown during Super Bowl XXXIX, and depicts many famous advertising mascots having dinner together.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• StarKist Tuna