CATTLE - ADVERTISING MASCOTS

    Elsie the Cow - Brown Jersey cow mascot for the Borden Company who appeared on various occasions (as a marionette) during THE BORDEN SHOW/NBC/1947. After the Borden Company began an ad campaign featuring their logo of Elsie the Cow in 1938, they needed a real cow to be their representative and so they recruited a bovine named "You'll Do Lobelia" (born at the Elm Hill Farms in Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1932). In 1940, Elsie got a partner, a husband named Elmer. Both Elsie and Elmer (the mascot for Elmer's Glue) have appeared in print, and media advertisements since the 1930s. Elsie the Cow beat out actor Van Johnson and U.S. Sen. Robert Taft in a 1952 recognition poll surveying America's most familiar faces. In the 1990s, after 15 years in retirement, Elsie was resurrected for an animated TV ad campaign. Actress Hope Emerson provided Elsie's voice in a variety of TV commercial spots in the early years of television.   

    Merrill, the Merrill Lynch Bull - Black longhorn bull, who was the living incarnation of the tenacity, size, and bullish strength of the Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith brokerage house. Merrill's lumbering figure could be seen cautiously walking through the aisles of a china shop or thundering down New York's Wall Street. Zane (the bull's real name) was owned by Ralph Helfer, the creator of Africa, USA an animal behavior center located in Southern California. TRIVIA NOTE: In 1999 a similar Super Bowl ad spot for Hartford Financial Services showcased Australian TV star Skippy the Kangaroo as it wreaked havoc bouncing about a china shop. Luckily, the damage was covered by Hartford.   

    Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull - Black longhorn Brahma bull used in the Schlitz Malt Liquor TV commercials who broke through walls and windows when someone opened a can or bottle of Schlitz's Malt Liquor. Considering the consequences of opening a bottle of that company's product, the beverage company should have gone out of business years ago. The lawsuits from injured consumers and property claims from insurance companies should have bankrupt them. The bull's name was Zane. When the bull was young it was neutered (testicles removed) and so despite his ferocious look, this 2,000 pound bull was just as friendly as a baby. He was owned by Ralph Helfer, the creator of Africa, USA an animal behavioral training center located in Soledad Canyon, north of Los Angeles.              

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