Funny Peculiar

Jay Stephens | December 15th, 2005

ff1When I was a kid, I was deeply enamoured with the Pillsbury Doughboy… he was just too freaking cute not to poke. Created by Rudy Perz of the Leo Burnett Co. in 1965, the Doughboy is one of the few cute character icons still going strong, and unsurprisingly made the top ten list of last century’s ad icons. But there was another Pillsbury creation that I liked even better. Oh my god, the Funny Faces! Our good pal Dan Goodsell has lots of Funny Face art for you to look at like this drink stand, these pillows, and these cool little comics. ff2The design and ad campaign was so powerful for these guys (despite the initial racist characters ‘Chinese Cherry’ and ‘Injun Orange’) that the only thing that could’ve stopped the Funny Faces from taking over the world was if they were banned. Well, guess what?
In 1969, the use of calcium cyclamate was banned from use in food for causing cancer, and Funny Face was withdrawn from the market. The formula was reworked using saccharine, but that also came under fire by the FDA, and Loudmouth Lime and his pals went quietly into the sunset.

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  • My brothers and sisters and I used to drink this stuff by the gallon. We had a bunch of drink cups of each character that I believe were part of a write in premium.
  • I LOVED these guys. I think I sent off for a special gift one time, I think it was for a Goofy Grape mug. Or something.
  • Jay
    Geez, Bill, I hope we don't all have cancer. I drank, like, an ocean of this gunk, too! I always liked Lime. It's the wonky teeth, I think.
  • Lime was always my favourite too... it's the teeth plus, he's got the most simple, classic shape -- no wacky hat to interfere with his mighty limeness.
  • Actually, I use the Lime funny face as an icon on my Mac to replace the icon for Limewire. I've been searching for the icons online, but they have eluded me.
  • Aha! Found 'em! Scroll down this page for fruity icon goodness. (OS X icons only)
  • Dan
    Actually it was Kool Aid that killed Funny Face. Pillsbury battled in the marketplace from 1964-1979 and was never able to get more then about 10% of the kids drink mix market. So they just gave up. A small mix company , Brady Enterprises eventually bought the name and formula and still make Funny Face and sell it along the eastern seaboard. Sometimes you can find the packs in dollar stores.
  • We had the Goofy Grape jug all though the seventies early eighties. When my parents were recently going through the inventory and getting our input for will purposes, the goofy grape jug was high on everyones list, suppassing the Benton lithograph and the Tiffany lamp.
  • Dig'em all! The perfect cartoon faces expressions!
  • Yeah! I have all the mugs on a shelf in my kitchen. They aren't the ones I had as a kid, but found at a flea market as an adult.
  • Jay
    My mistake, Dan. Poison seemed like more than enough of a reason to stop selling something, but I guess low sales wouldn't help, either. I suppose Kool Aid was carcinogenic at the time as well? What about Hawaiian Punch?
  • Dan
    Yeah Kool Aid also had a line of cyclamate sweetened packs, they were actually the ones with Bugs Bunny on them! All cyclmates were phased out around 1968 and saccharine was tried but by 1974 it was all sugar sweeneted.
  • Anybody who likes food characters should buy Krazy Kids' Food! from Taschen. Worth the pleasure trip. Just food for thought.
  • psst... tone, the book you're talking about was written by none other than the Dan who commented before you! ;-)
  • Well it's a small world. Thanks Dan for a great book. I love that little book. Dan you should do a sequel to that book.
  • Dan
    well I am glad you love our little book. At some point I am sure we will get around to doing another book, I know I have more then enough stuff to fill five or six more books.
  • uh oh! i sense a "child friendly" terrorist alert system in the making!

    today's terror threat level: lefty lemon, watch out kids.
  • Jory
    My friend's grandfather drew the Baron Von Lemon character, at least. He might've done the other ones but she's not sure.
  • Paul
    Add me to the list of future cancer cases who swilled this stuff by the gallon and LOVED it! I never had a favorite character, but my favorite flavor was Goofy Grape, followed closely by Choo-choo Cherry (don't remember Chinese Cherry m'self...)
  • Having been born in '67, I just barely remember these characters. I was reintroduced to them however upon visiting Dan's site. Bought the book last year too.

    Thanks Dan! :)
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  • For some reason, I remember the Orange flavor - about 1970, 71, or 72 - as being Loudmouth Orange.

    Even as a test market????

    Anyone second this?
  • Chrissa
    No, no, no, John! Patty is right! All the flavors have their original names.

    After all I had to mix it up for you when you were a kid!
  • Joanne
    Funny Face Drinks. They were part of my childhood. Even after 40 years I still adore these fruity characters. Too bad they're not around today, as they would have made excellent beanie toys. My favorite was Chinese Cherry. I don't find him offensive at all; I think he was cute. I remember on the commercials he had this cute little giggle. What also made these characters unique was they all had their own individual personalities. I used to save the pictures on the packs after drinking them, because I hated to see their funny faces thrown in the trash. I kept the faces and I would play imaginary games with them. They were my make believe friends and they still are to this day.
  • I remember my crazy cousin having the first six packs taped to his kitchen wall in 1964 or 1965.
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