Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (together with some for GEICO between 2009 and 2017) ended with a human finger poking the Doughboy's belly. The Doughboy responds by giggling when his belly is poked (Hoo-Hoo!, or earlier on, a slight giggle "tee hee"). Perz was sitting in his kitchen in the spring of 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign for Pillsbury's refrigerated dough product line (biscuits, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, and cookies). His copywriter, Carol H. Williams,

Character

Poppin' Fresh was given a scarf, a chef's hat, and two big blue eyes to distinguish him from the rolls, as well as a faint blush and a soft, warm chuckle when poked on the belly. The Doughboy was originally designed by Milt Schaffer. After Frees' death in 1986, Jeff Bergman took over the role, and held it until 2014. In recent years, he has also been voiced by Peter New, Fred Young, and Jeremy Geller. In two advertisements made for the UK in 1976, British voice actor Peter Hawkins voiced the character. Currently, Rich Orlow voices the Doughboy.

Animation

Perz originally conceived the Doughboy as a cartoon animated figure but changed his mind after seeing a stop-motion technique used in the opening credits for The Dinah Shore Show. Cascade Pictures was hired to create a three-dimensional Doughboy puppet at a cost of $16,000.

The Doughboy was brought to life with stop-motion animation, using foam rubber puppets with ball and socket armatures inside. The heads were typically made of resin, each with different mouth shapes or expression and animated using a replacement animation technique whereby the head would be swapped out frame-by-frame to match the mouth movements to the dialog. In 1992, the animation technique was changed to CGI animation, which continues to be used in new ads.

Pillsbury family

In the 1970s, a Pillsbury Doughboy family was created and sold as dolls individually and in the form of various playsets.

Included in the family are:

  • Poppin' Fresh
  • Granpopper and Granmommer (grandparents) Some reported that an attorney for General Mills instructed her not to talk to the press.

References

  • Audio file (MP3 format) of the Doughboy giggling
  • Character's official site
  • Official history of Poppin' Fresh from General Mills website
  • Pillsbury Family