Hawaiian
Punch Guy
- In
1961 the Atherton-Privett ad agency created a successful
20-second commercial to advertise the red punch drink known as
Hawaiian Punch®. The original "Punchy and Oaf" ad featured a
short little Hawaiian guy wearing a grass hat and a
vertically-striped shirt who held a glass of Hawaiian Punch.
When a tourist named Oaf (who was dressed in a flowered shirt and
hat) approached Punchy, he was greeted with the seemingly
generous statement "Hey, How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?" When
Oaf (also called Opie) said "Sure!" Punchy pulled back his fist
and clobbered the unsuspecting Island visitor with a roundhouse
punch to the face. Throughout all of the commercials, Oaf never
learned his lesson and got royally pounded each time he accepted
Punchy's offer. The innocent nature of Oaf was similar to that
of comic strip character Charlie Brown who hoped that his friend
Lucy would hold the football still so he could kick it. Lucy
never did let Charlie Brown kick the ball, and Punchy never gave
Oaf a drink of Hawaiian Punch. The commercial first aired in
February 1962 to rave reviews on the late night talk show THE
TONIGHT SHOW with Jack Paar (who said "Let's run that
again...the second time for free").
