Jell-O Baby - In the 1950s General Foods, the makers of Jell-O sponsored a classic ad spot entitled "Chinese Baby" starring a sad Chinese child struggling with the question "How do you eat yummy, wiggly, delicious grape-flavored Jell-O with chopsticks? The solution: A Chinese mother came to the rescue with a spoon. The commercial began with a narrator (speaking in a Chinese accent) saying "Like to present ancient Chinese pantomime: 'Jell-O Tonight.'...Chinese mother brings baby Jell-O famous Western delicacy. Poor Chinese baby! He unable to tell if this Jell-O is Strawberry, Raspberry, Cherry, Orange, Lemon, Lime...Jell-O come in all ten flavors. Poor Chinese baby! But, ah! Mother brings great Western invention-the spoon! Spoon was invented to eat Jell-O, Chinese baby very happy! So ends ancient Chinese pantomime. Was pretty good commercial, no?" Character actor Alan Swift provided the announcer's oriental voice. The campaign was created in 1959 by Barbara Demaray from Young and Rubicam Advertising Agency. The black and white ad spots were animated by Ray Patin Productions. An earlier Jell-O commercial also produced by Y&R in 1957 entitled "Prancing Boy" featuring an animated drawing of a little boy (drawn by Maurice Sendak) dancing about a field of flowers, riding a pony made out of a Jell-O box; scribbling the words lemon and banana on a wall with a crayon; and singing "Banana, manana, oh I love banana..." In the 1970s and 1980s comedian Bill Cosby starred in a series of successful Jell-O TV ads (Young & Rubicam, 1975 ) that hawked the creamy goodness of Jell-O puddings. TRIVIA NOTE: Jell-O was invented in 1897 when May Wait, a housewife from LeRoy, New York purchased the rights of an existing powdered gelatin and added sugar to the mix. In 1899 Jell-O was sold to Orator Woodward who successfully marketed Jell-O to the American public. When Jell-O celebrated its 100th anniversary in May of 1997, Jay Leno of THE TONIGHT SHOW commented "If it wasn't for Jell-O...hundreds of female wrestlers would be out of work."  Today, Jell-O (now owned by Kraft Foods) is known as "America's Most Famous Dessert." Oh yeah, don't forget the company's trademark slogan: "There's Always Room for Jell-O." For the history of Jell-O check out The Jell-O Museum. See also - VULNERABILITIES: "Jell-O" 

             

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