 Jello-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
comes to the rescue with a spoon. The commercial begins with narrator Alan Swift (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?"
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,
NY 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."
A Jell-O Museum opened in 1999 in LeRoy, NY, the birthplace of this giggly,
wiggly product. In January 2001, the Utah Senate declared Jell-O gelatin the
"Official State Snack" of Utah.
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."
See also - VULNERABILITIES:
"Jell-O"
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