Jack (mascot)
Encyclopedia
Jack Box is the mascot of American
restaurant chain Jack in the Box
. In the advertisements
, he is the founder, CEO, and ad spokesman for the chain. According to the company's web site, he has the appearance of a typical male, with the exception of his huge round white head, blue dot eyes, black pointy nose, and a linear red smile. He's most of the time seen wearing his yellow clown cap, and a business suit
.
The company's "bio" of him claims the following facts:
menu
s (in the 1960s and early '70's the rotating clown head was also at the top of the large signs at each location). In 1980, the chain decided to establish a more "mature" image by introducing a wider variety of menu items and, most notably, discontinuing the use of Jack. A series of television commercials announced "We're blowing up clowns!" and showed the dramatic explosion
of the notorious clown
heads. These commercials led to many complaints by parents over the violence. Throughout the late 1980s to the 1990s, Jack in the Box tried to position itself as a premium fast food alternative, with varying results.
In 1993, a major food contamination crisis was linked to Jack in the Box restaurants and by 1994, a series of lawsuits and negative publicity took their tolls and pushed their corporate parent, Foodmaker Inc. to the verge of bankruptcy. In the short term, they decided to promote their initiatives on food safety and then approved a new guerilla advertising campaign created by Dick Sittig, of Secret Weapon marketing in Santa Monica
which brought back their original mascot, Jack as a savvy, no-nonsense businessman.
A series of new commercials featured a new, more-serious Jack with a smaller head and wearing a business suit (according to him, "thanks to the miracle of plastic surgery
"). In the very first of these new commercials, he blew up the board of directors as retribution for his supposed destruction in 1980. This image of destruction angered many, as it occurred at nearly the same time as several domestic bombings hitting the news in those days (see Oklahoma City bombing
). But the ad agency and the corporation stuck by the new campaign. Their intent was to prove to a wary public that the company was no longer the same restaurant chain plagued by the food safety scandal, and because the commercials had a definite humorous element to them that undermined the alleged "retribution" that Jack was supposedly demonstrating in these commercials and overall, the public responded positively.
Car antenna
ornaments shaped like Jack's head have been a mainstay of the restaurant chain's promotion for several years.
Dick Sittig, a marketing executive who started the Jack advertising campaign, is the voice of Jack. The man inside the suit is Jason Curtis from Phoenix, AZ.
ad that showed Jack being struck by a bus outside his corporate office. Along with his second in command, Phil, he was walking down the street, stating that he wants the public to know about the fact that the public can order anything on his menu, anytime. He states "For instance, breakfast all day, or maybe a burg-." At that moment, a bus is seen to strike Jack head on, as onlookers cringe and his hat knocked off. The ad ends with Jack lying on the ground badly injured while the paramedics are being summoned. Viewers were then directed to visit the website hangintherejack.com to check on his condition.
The next ad showed Jack being checked into the hospital and being operated on as his heart stopped, as Doctor Robert Conely was talking about the a "midnight breakfast at Jack's" with Nurse O'Brien. It is also revealed that his head did not fit into the CAT scan machine and that the doctors were using unprofessional equipment (Doctor Conely states at the end of the ad to give him a hot glue gun and a bonesaw).
The third ad showed Jack in a coma, and Phil volunteering to take his place at the company's head, despite Jack not being dead (he felt that he was close enough to death that he should prepare to step up, and Dr. Conely even states that he might not live). All the while, another assistant, Barbara, is more positive about the situation, stating that Jack will recover.
The fourth ad showed Phil announcing, after snapping his fingers, that he was going to take over Jack In the Box. Jack, regaining awareness of his surrounding (albeit only listening and blurred vision, thinks to himself that Phil using most of his idea's is a good thing. However, Phil states that he intends to change the company name, to "Phil in the Box", going as far to hold up the future company logo. At that moment, Jack woke up and began throttling Phil, stating that he will not let the name change occur, and stating that he has work to do, all the while demanding his pants. The words "Jack's Back" appear on the screen.
Shortly after the announcement, he got rid of the old Jack In the Box logo, and introduced a newer, more modern logo, along with a redesigned website.
shows Stan Smith
falsely blaming a student body candidate at his son's school for having a sexual relationship with Jack. When his son, Steve
states that he thought that Jack was in the basement of the Smith house, it cuts to houseguest Roger Smith
finding Jack in the basement, tied up and stripped down to presumably nothing.
The April 24, 2009 edition of the Adam Carolla
Podcast featured Sittig, in character as Jack, involving a humorous discussion on other restaurant mascots (Ronald McDonald
, The Burger King
), the fast food business and general listener Q&A. In the podcast, Jack insinuates that The Burger King is bisexual, citing his attire ( tights, felt shoes and a cape). Carolla jumps in with a tale of the King buying a drink for a male friend of his in Canada, though this claim cannot be verified.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
restaurant chain Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant founded by Robert O. Peterson in 1951 in San Diego, California, where it is still headquartered today. In total, the chain has 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast of the United States...
. In the advertisements
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, he is the founder, CEO, and ad spokesman for the chain. According to the company's web site, he has the appearance of a typical male, with the exception of his huge round white head, blue dot eyes, black pointy nose, and a linear red smile. He's most of the time seen wearing his yellow clown cap, and a business suit
Suit (clothing)
In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...
.
The company's "bio" of him claims the following facts:
- According to his CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
driver's licenseDriver's licenseA driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
, Jack I. Box is 6'-8" tall and weighs 195 pounds. It also shows his birthdayBirthdayA birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
to be May 16.
- Jack was born on a cattleCattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
ranchRanchA ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
in ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. He later moved to Southern CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he met his blonde wifeWifeA wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
, Cricket. They now have a young sonSonA son is a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents. The female analogue is a daughter.-Social issues regarding sons:In pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters,...
named Jack Jr. (who, like all males in the Box family treeFamily treeA family tree, or pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. The more detailed family trees used in medicine, genealogy, and social work are known as genograms.-Family tree representations:...
, also has an oversized baldBaldnessBaldness implies partial or complete lack of hair and can be understood as part of the wider topic of "hair thinning". The degree and pattern of baldness can vary greatly, but its most common cause is male and female pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia, alopecia androgenetica or...
head). However, in May 2010, Jack appeared in a new commercial with a woman that did not resemble Cricket, who appeared with him in a commercial in 1997. The pair took in a movie where Jack complained and cried about the price of popcorn in relation to his low-priced menu.
- Jack is an alumnusAlumnusAn alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...
of Ball State UniversityBall State UniversityBall State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
, a reference to his ball-shaped head
- Jack, fluent in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Chinese, has starred in more than 300 televisionTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
commercials, including more than 100 Spanish-language ads. Jack's linguistic talents also include MandarinStandard MandarinStandard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, which he spoke in the 1999 television ad "Titans."
- A true man of the people, Jack ran for president in 1996 and beat out Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Bob DoleBob DoleRobert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
and DogbertDogbertDogbert is Dilbert's anthropomorphic pet talking dog from the Dilbert comic strip. According to creator Scott Adams, the character is being based on, if not a member of, the beagle breed.-Characterization:...
in a national independent Virtual Vote poll; no recounts required.
- During Super Bowl XXXVSuper Bowl XXXVSuper Bowl XXXV was played on January 28, 2001 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 2000 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Baltimore Ravens defeated the National Football Conference champion New York...
, Jack in the Box debuted a television commercial in which Jack announced his purchase of a professional American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, the Carnivores. His team played against teams such as the TofuTofuis a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
Eaters and the Vegans.
- In late 2009, the company began to run a commercial in which Jack visited his cousin Jim, who was serving time in prison. Jim has a large white head that resembles a Ping-Pong ball squashed from both sides, with wispy gray hair and beard, along with a surly voice and facial expression. He does not wear a clown cap.
- Jack's smile can change to reflect his mood (puzzlement, fear, etc.). During one commercial, in which he was playing Texas hold 'emTexas hold 'emTexas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
against several celebrities, he made his eyes and mouth disappear completely. The announcer remarked, "Now that's a world-class poker face."
History
Prior to 1980, the chain used a huge clown head as its symbol, which sat atop the remote activated talking drive-thruDrive-through
A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive...
menu
Menu
In a restaurant, a menu is a presentation of food and beverage offerings. A menu may be a la carte – which guests use to choose from a list of options – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established sequence of courses is served....
s (in the 1960s and early '70's the rotating clown head was also at the top of the large signs at each location). In 1980, the chain decided to establish a more "mature" image by introducing a wider variety of menu items and, most notably, discontinuing the use of Jack. A series of television commercials announced "We're blowing up clowns!" and showed the dramatic explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
of the notorious clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
heads. These commercials led to many complaints by parents over the violence. Throughout the late 1980s to the 1990s, Jack in the Box tried to position itself as a premium fast food alternative, with varying results.
In 1993, a major food contamination crisis was linked to Jack in the Box restaurants and by 1994, a series of lawsuits and negative publicity took their tolls and pushed their corporate parent, Foodmaker Inc. to the verge of bankruptcy. In the short term, they decided to promote their initiatives on food safety and then approved a new guerilla advertising campaign created by Dick Sittig, of Secret Weapon marketing in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
which brought back their original mascot, Jack as a savvy, no-nonsense businessman.
A series of new commercials featured a new, more-serious Jack with a smaller head and wearing a business suit (according to him, "thanks to the miracle of plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
"). In the very first of these new commercials, he blew up the board of directors as retribution for his supposed destruction in 1980. This image of destruction angered many, as it occurred at nearly the same time as several domestic bombings hitting the news in those days (see Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
). But the ad agency and the corporation stuck by the new campaign. Their intent was to prove to a wary public that the company was no longer the same restaurant chain plagued by the food safety scandal, and because the commercials had a definite humorous element to them that undermined the alleged "retribution" that Jack was supposedly demonstrating in these commercials and overall, the public responded positively.
Car antenna
Whip antenna
A whip antenna is an antenna consisting of a single straight flexible wire or rod, often mounted above some type of conducting surface called a ground plane. The bottom end of the whip is connected to the radio receiver or transmitter. They are designed to be flexible so that they won't break...
ornaments shaped like Jack's head have been a mainstay of the restaurant chain's promotion for several years.
Dick Sittig, a marketing executive who started the Jack advertising campaign, is the voice of Jack. The man inside the suit is Jason Curtis from Phoenix, AZ.
2009 Bus Accident and Recovery
On February 1, 2009, a new ad campaign began with a Super BowlSuper Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
ad that showed Jack being struck by a bus outside his corporate office. Along with his second in command, Phil, he was walking down the street, stating that he wants the public to know about the fact that the public can order anything on his menu, anytime. He states "For instance, breakfast all day, or maybe a burg-." At that moment, a bus is seen to strike Jack head on, as onlookers cringe and his hat knocked off. The ad ends with Jack lying on the ground badly injured while the paramedics are being summoned. Viewers were then directed to visit the website hangintherejack.com to check on his condition.
The next ad showed Jack being checked into the hospital and being operated on as his heart stopped, as Doctor Robert Conely was talking about the a "midnight breakfast at Jack's" with Nurse O'Brien. It is also revealed that his head did not fit into the CAT scan machine and that the doctors were using unprofessional equipment (Doctor Conely states at the end of the ad to give him a hot glue gun and a bonesaw).
The third ad showed Jack in a coma, and Phil volunteering to take his place at the company's head, despite Jack not being dead (he felt that he was close enough to death that he should prepare to step up, and Dr. Conely even states that he might not live). All the while, another assistant, Barbara, is more positive about the situation, stating that Jack will recover.
The fourth ad showed Phil announcing, after snapping his fingers, that he was going to take over Jack In the Box. Jack, regaining awareness of his surrounding (albeit only listening and blurred vision, thinks to himself that Phil using most of his idea's is a good thing. However, Phil states that he intends to change the company name, to "Phil in the Box", going as far to hold up the future company logo. At that moment, Jack woke up and began throttling Phil, stating that he will not let the name change occur, and stating that he has work to do, all the while demanding his pants. The words "Jack's Back" appear on the screen.
Shortly after the announcement, he got rid of the old Jack In the Box logo, and introduced a newer, more modern logo, along with a redesigned website.
Media
The Pilot Episode of American Dad!American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
shows Stan Smith
Stan Smith (American Dad!)
Stan Smith is a character from the animated television series American Dad!. Stan is a Central Intelligence Agency officer. Although once a case officer, he is now a weapons expert. Stan is voiced by the series' creator and executive producer, Seth MacFarlane.-Summary:Stan Smith born 12 February,...
falsely blaming a student body candidate at his son's school for having a sexual relationship with Jack. When his son, Steve
Steve Smith (American Dad!)
Steven Anita “Steve” Smith is a character from the animated television series American Dad!. He is Stan and Francine Smith's only son and Hayley's younger brother as well as the youngest of the series' 6 main characters. Steve is voiced by Scott Grimes.According to TVTDB.com, Steve's original...
states that he thought that Jack was in the basement of the Smith house, it cuts to houseguest Roger Smith
Roger Smith
Roger Smith may refer to:* Roger Smith , American television and film actor and screenwriter* Roger Smith , English soccer player* Roger Smith , Bahamian tour tennis player...
finding Jack in the basement, tied up and stripped down to presumably nothing.
The April 24, 2009 edition of the Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He currently hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast on the ACE Broadcasting Network...
Podcast featured Sittig, in character as Jack, involving a humorous discussion on other restaurant mascots (Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. In television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and...
, The Burger King
The Burger King
The Burger King was a character created as the advertising mascot for the international fast-food restaurant franchise Burger King who became famous in numerous television commercials, including the Burger King Kingdom. The first iteration of the King was part of Burger King sign at the first store...
), the fast food business and general listener Q&A. In the podcast, Jack insinuates that The Burger King is bisexual, citing his attire ( tights, felt shoes and a cape). Carolla jumps in with a tale of the King buying a drink for a male friend of his in Canada, though this claim cannot be verified.