Jack (mascot)

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Jack

Client:	Jack in the Box

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Jack is the clown mascot of American restaurant chain Jack In The Box. In the advertisements, he is the founder, CEO, and ad spokesman for the restaurant. He has the appearance of a typical human male, with the exception of his huge round white head, blue dot eyes, black pointy nose, and linear red smile. He is almost always seen wearing his yellow clown cap, and a business suit. According to his California driver's license, Jack I. Box is 6'-8" tall and weighs 195 pounds. It also shows his birthday to be May 16.

Jack was born on a cattle ranch in Colorado. He later moved to Southern California, where he met his blonde wife, Cricket. They now have a young son named Jack Jr. (who, like all males in the Box family tree, also has an oversized bald head).

Jack, fluent in English and Spanish, has starred in more than 300 television and radio commercials, including more than 100 Spanish-language ads. Jack's linguistic talents also include Mandarin, 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 Clinton, Bob Dole and Dogbert in a national independent Virtual Vote poll; no recounts required.

During Super Bowl XXXV, Jack in the Box debuted a television commercial in which Jack announced his purchase of a professional football team, the Carnivores. His team played against teams such as the Tofu Eaters and the Vegans.

[edit] History

Prior to 1980, the chain used a huge clown head as its symbol, which sat atop the remote activated talking drive-thru menus (in the 1960's and early '70's the 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.

In 1995, the chain, which had suffered a series of setbacks (including a major food contamination crisis in 1993) revived and revitalized their old moniker. 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, because the 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. However, as whip antennas become obsolete on newer cars, the Jack balls have come less common.

Dick Sittig, a marketing executive who started the Jack advertising campaign, is the voice of Jack.^[1]