Pillsbury Doughboy

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For the slang term for American soldiers in World War I and earlier, see doughboy.

The Pillsbury doughboy on a pancake mix package from Israel.

Pop 'N' Fresh, "The Pillsbury Doughboy", is an advertising icon and mascot of The Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. He is a small anthropoid character apparently made out of dough. When poked in the stomach, he makes a short giggling noise, lightly grabs his stomach, and smiles.

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 when girls kissed him, 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.

Perz originally conceived Fresh 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 (the voice of Rocky and Bullwinkle's Boris Badenov) 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. After Paul Frees' death in 1986, Dalton Benson Jr., (who also did the voice-over for Charlie the Tuna), took over. Today, the high-pitched giggles are done by JoBe Cerny, the on-camera star of Burnett's Cheer detergent advertising campaign.^{[citation needed]}

At Christmas time, supermarkets use a refrigerator with the Doughboy, and now can be activated with "Hear Me Giggle!" read out with a speech bubble, and sound waves where the giggle is activated.^{[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) (possibly wife, friend, sister,or girlfriend) ^[1]
GrandPopper and GranMommer (grandparents) ^[2]
Biscuit (cat)
Flapjack (dog)
doydo (dog

Poppie also appeared in some commercials along with Poppin' Fresh.[2].