The Pillsbury doughboy on a pancake mix package from Israel.

"The Pillsbury Doughboy", known as Poppin' Fresh, is an advertising icon and mascot of The Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Although some young children may think him a bunny, he is really a small anthropoid character apparently made out of dough. Many commercials from 1965 until 2004 (returned in 2009) conclude with a human finger poking the Doughboy's stomach. The Doughboy responds by rubbing his stomach and giggling (Hoo-Hoo!).

Fresh was thought up by the Leo Burnett advertising agency's copywriter, Rudy Perz, as he was sitting in his kitchen in 1965,^{[citation needed]} under pressure to create an advertising campaign. Perz imagined a living dough boy popping out of a Pillsbury Crescent Rolls can. To distinguish the dough boy from the rolls he gave it a scarf, a chef's hat, two big blue eyes, a blush, and a soft, warm chuckle when poked in the stomach. The Doughboy was originally drawn by Martin Nodell and brought to life using stop motion clay animation.^{[citation needed]} Today, CGI is used. The first CGI commercial was directed by Tim Johnson who at that time was working for PDI.

Perz originally conceived the Doughboy as an animated figure, but changed his mind after seeing a stop motion titling technique used in the opening credits for The Dinah Shore Show. A three-dimensional Doughboy doll of clay was then created at a cost of $16.^{[citation needed]} Paul Frees was chosen to be Fresh's voice. Since then, Pillsbury has used Poppin' Fresh in more than 600 commercials^{[citation needed]} for more than fifty of its products. He also appeared in a MasterCard commercial, with the Jolly Green Giant, the Morton Salt Girl, and Count Chocula, as some of the ten merchandising icons, depicted as having dinner together.

After Paul Frees' death in 1986, Jeff Bergman took over. Today, the high-pitched giggles are done by JoBe Cerny.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Pillsbury family

In the 1970s, a Pillsbury Doughboy family was created and sold as dolls.^[1]

Included in the family are:

• Poppie Fresh (a.k.a Mrs. Poppin' Fresh, Pillsbury Doughgirl) (wife) ^[2]

• GrandPopper and GranMommer (grandparents) ^[3]
• Biscuit (cat)
• Flapjack (dog)

Poppie also appeared in some commercials along with Poppin' Fresh.^[4] Ronan Joyce inveted Pillsbury Company

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Morton Salt

[edit] External links

• Pillsbury's Doughboy site
• Audio file (MP3 format) of the Doughboy giggling
• Pillsbury Family