Abandoned Mascot / Advertising

• 1-800-Collect had a short-lived ad campaign featuring Sergeant Savings, played by Damon Wayans. He was retired after at least two commercials, presumably because the song he sings at the end of each one, "C-O-L-L-E-C-T, Save a buck or two or three," was too similar to the "C-A-L-L A-T-T" chant that was prominent in AT&T commercials at the time.
• Ask Jeeves dropped their eponymous Jeeves in 2006, when they rebranded to ask.com.
• Brenda and Audrey, two obviously cross-dressed men playing housewives, were the mascots of Bounty kitchen paper in the UK, until it was rebranded to Plenty in 2009. They were later replaced with the innuendo-laden Juan Sheet ("Juan Sheet does plenty!").
• In the 1980s, Bud Light beer had a mascot called Spuds MacKenzie. He was a cute dog in wacky commercials, so many people thought the company was trying to attract kids (it didn't help that there were plush toys of him). After a lot of negative press and legal trouble, Spuds was abandoned.
• Burger King:
  • The Burger King used to be a stereotypical medieval monarch with a surrounding royal court, but was phased out in the 80's. Like with Jack, the King was later re-imagined as a more mature figure in 2004, only in the King's case it was done by making him unsettlingly weird. This version was retired in 2011 for being a little too weird, but the trope became subverted when he returned in 2015 (though not as prominently as before).
  • The Burger King Kids Club Gang was created in 1989 to succeed the King and lasted until 2005. They were replaced with the Honbatz. The Honbatz have also been discontinued outside of New Zealand and some European markets.
• During the creation of StarKist Tuna, the mascot on the packages was of a fisherman with an earring. Starting with commercials in the 1960s, Charlie the Tuna was introduced, yet the fisherman remained on the package. By the 1980s, Charlie had become the full mascot on both the advertisements and the commercials, replacing the fisherman entirely.
• British game show channel Challenge had the Challengers, a group of characters who represented the different genres of game shows on the channel, between 2013-2016.
• Some of the cigarette companies in the 1990s used cartoony mascots. Many, including the PSA Smoke Alarm: The Unfiltered Truth About Cigarettes, accused the companies of targeting children with their marketing. As a result, mascots like Joe Camel were eventually dropped.
• In the 80s, Cinnamon Toast Crunch had three bakers as their mascots. By the time the 90s rolled around, the head baker, Wendell, remained while the other two, Bob and Quello, disappeared. Around the 2010s, Wendell was gradually phased out as well, having not appeared in a commercial for several years, and was eventually removed from the cereal boxes. In his place, the cereal's current mascots are sapient cereal pieces (known as "Crazy Squares") who are prone to eating each other. Wendell hasn't been entirely forgotten by General Mills, however, as the character made a brief return in 2022 for a 90s nostalgia promotion (but Bob and Quello still did not).
• Coca-Cola once had the Sprite Boy, who was introduced to denote that "Coke" and "Coca-Cola" are the same thing. He was phased out in 1958. He wasn't truly forgotten, though, as he has fans as well as an exhibit in the Coca-Cola museum.
• Coco Krispies went through a variety of mascots before Snap, Crackle and Pop of Rice Krispies took over that cereal as well.
  • Inverted with the French version of the same brand, which went through a bunch of renames until finally settling on "Coco Pops": Not only did its French mascot Coco the monkey endure through the decades, he took over another Kellogg's brand, replacing the Chocos bear.
• From the mid 2000's to the early 2010's, Dairy Queen advertising heavily featured a disembodied, unnamed pair of lips who would advertise their products, but they have since fallen out of use.
• Playhouse Disney, now Disney Junior, had two former mascots who have both been retired.
  • 2002 introduced a mascot for the block. He was a talking blob of clay called "Clay". Clay was eventually dropped when the block went through a rebranding.
  • Clay’s replacements were a pair of monkey puppets named Ooh and Aah, who debuted in 2007. They were removed once the channel underwent the transition to Disney Junior in 2011.
• Domino's Pizza:
  • In the 1980's, they had The Noid, a humanoid creature whose purpose is to promote their 30 Minute Guarantee, where people were promised to receive their deliveries within a half-hour, otherwise they'd be charged less for it (or not at all, when the deal started out before the Noid's creation). The Noid, along with the deal, was retired when too many rushed deliveries resulted in accidents and lawsuits, as well as an incident where a deranged man named Kenneth Lamar Noid took employees in a location in Georgia hostage because he felt the commercials were attacking him personally. However, Domino's gave the mascot another chance a few decades later. The Noid had cameo appearances in some 2010s promotional material, and starred in a 2021 campaign promoting Domino's driverless pizza delivery, now rendered in CGI instead of stop motion. He also appeared in Crash: On the Run!.
  • In 1998, Domino's had a short-lived mascot, Dr. Cravin, an action figure who stalked Domino's delivery people by bike or car. His commercials were done in a style similar to the Action League NOW! shorts on KaBlam!, using a mix of live action and stop-motion.
  • In 2000, they had another short-lived mascot named Bad Andy, a mischievous monkey puppet who made things difficult for a group of characters dubbed the Domino's Crew (consisting of Jeff, Anthony, Carla, and the manager, Charlie). He was dropped after their 2001 Cinna Stix promotion.
• Dunkin' Donuts had Dunkie, a figure made entirely out of donuts and wearing a paper hat and coffee cup. He was soon phased out.
• In 1973, Duracell created an ad where several battery-powered drumming bunnies would run down one by one, leaving only the Duracell-powered one. That bunny became Duracell's mascot in the following years, but its trademark expired in the U.S. by 1988 and rival Energizer took the opportunity to create a parody of the 1973 ad featuring their own bunny mascot. Duracell tried to revive their own bunny mascot, leading to a trademark dispute between the two companies which ended in a settlement where the "bunny mascot" rights were given to Energizer in North America and to Duracell elsewhere. Therefore, Duracell abandoned its bunny mascot in North America in favor of The Puttermans (an Uncanny Valley Robo Family which lasted from 1994 to 1997) while Energizer introduced the Energizer Man (an anthropomorphic battery) for usage outside North America. Before introducing the Energizer Bunny, the company had Mark "Jacko" Jackson, which lasted from 1987 to 1988 in the U.S. but lasted a few years longer in Australia due to his popularity there.
• Erin Esurance, a pink-haired spy, was a mascot to the auto insurance company Esurance. She was used for several years in the 2000s. Erin was retired due to the company not liking all the Rule 34 and other less-than-family-friendly content based around her online.
• The Frito Bandito was the mascot for Fritos corn chips from 1967-1971. Most sources say that he was abandoned due to the obvious political incorrectness of the character, though others say that most Mexicans liked him (see also Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales). He was replaced by W.C. Fritos, who didn't last very long.
• In 2009, the video game store chain GameStop (EB Games in other areas) began using a profane Funny Animal rabbit mascot named Buck Bunny that made fun of 2D platformers. He had an elaborate lore about how he began on an Atari title called Bunny's Big Adventure and soon became the most popular mascot in gaming (even more so than Mario). But Buck's popularity dwindled between the 8-bit and 16-bit eras and this led to his downward spiral into poverty, alcoholism, and prostitution. Buck stayed in his rut until GameStop asked him to be in commercials in 2009. The meta story, however, is just that Buck started out in an ad parodying platformers called "Bunny Money" and he became so popular that he was soon made into their mascot. In 2012, Buck was retired in North America but, as of 2018, he still exists in other regions (such as Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland). In his modern form, several areas use a cutesy Lighter and Softer Buck meant to appeal to kids.
• GEICO has a tendency to hedge betting on their mascots' viability:
  • The GEICO Cavemen are likely the most famous example, having been a mascot to rival the gecko for a few years, getting a brief series for a half-season, and then disappearing without a trace.
  • Maxwell the Pig was last seen on June 11, 2014. He is presumed retired, as his only social media presence is run by fans.
• Hardee's originally had a chef standing in front of a barbecue. He didn't last long.
• Host Cereals:
  • Honeycomb rarely has a mascot, but when it did, it was the bizarre CGI character Crazy Craving. It lives on in peoples' memories, just not on the airwaves.
  • Back in the 1960s was the Honeycomb Kid. His fate was sealed with the demise of the Spaghetti Western.
• Hostess snack cakes had an array of long-gone mascots, each of whom assumed the shape of their respective product. Twinkies had the cowboy-like Twinkie the Kid, Fruit Pies had Fruit Pie the Magician, and Hostess Cupcakes had a seafaring Captain Cupcake. Less prominent was the Robin Hood-like Happy Ho Ho, mascot for Hostess Ho Hos. But more complex was Ding-Dong's mascot, since the product was formerly known as King Dons and Big Wheels in different parts of the USA. There were the similar King Don and King Ding Dong (with at least one commercial the same, except the name), but for Big Wheels, you had a (stereotypical-looking) American Indian — Chief Big Wheel.
• Fast food chain Jack In The Box used to have clown mascots (not so much specific characters as general theming), but got rid of them in 1980 (with explosives) in order to reposition themselves as a more mature brand. The concept returned as part of a rebranding in 1994, which introduced "Jack Box" as the company's high-powered CEO who just happens to have a giant clown head.
• While the long-running mascot for Lucky Charms is Lucky The Leprechaun, back in 1975 there was an alternate mascot called Waldo the Wizard. He was only seen in the New England section of the USA, and lasted less than a year.
  • In the mid-2010s, a revamp of Lucky's ad campaign added anthropomorphic versions of the charms to go on wacky adventures with Lucky. The hostile reception to the revamp lead to General Mills quickly pulling the campaign in favor of an updated version of Lucky's classic campaign, and pulling the charm characters along with it.
• Danish butter brand Lurpak was advertised to UK audiences by a small man made of butter called Douglas from 1985-2003.
• The bubble gum brand Malabar used Mr. Malabar◊ until 2011, when he was replaced by Younger and Hipper cat Mabulle◊. He tends to be hated by nostalgics.
• McDonald's:
  • In the early years, McDonald's had a mascot named "Speedee", a chef-like character with a hamburger for a head. He was named for their fast, "Speedee Service System", and appeared primarily on signage. He was replaced by Ronald McDonald in 1967, presumably to avoid confusion with Alka-Seltzer's own "Speedy"; the book Chew On This, which chronicles the history of the fast food industry, quipped that McDonald's patrons probably didn't want to have to worry about taking Speedy's antacids right after eating Speedie's food.
  • The classic McDonaldland characters such as Birdie, Hamburglar, and Grimace were dropped in 2003, shortly after The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald was released. They were replaced with the "I'm lovin' it" campaign due to decreased popularity. Despite McDonaldland being discarded, the characters still appear in some of the kid's sections of restaurants. A Hotter and Sexier Hamburglar was briefly brought back in 2015 to promote a new burger. In June 2023, McDonald's celebrated Grimace's birthday by bringing him and some of the gang back for a few commercials and promotions.
  • In the 2010s, Ronald McDonald himself has largely been retired due to the controversies surrounding the company marketing junk food towards children (as well as the fact that clowns are increasingly seen as scary rather than funny). He was mostly replaced by an animated Happy Meal box called "Happy". As of 2021, Happy has also been retired, leaving the company with no mascot.
  • Mac Tonight was a popular late 1980s ad campaign featuring a humanoid mascot with a moon-shaped head of the same name. The campaign was done away in 1989 when McDonald's was sued for plagiarism. He was temporarily brought back in America for a 1996-1997 ad campaign and in 2007 for a CGI South East Asian ad campaign. Mac Tonight statues remained in some stores for years, but most were removed in the 2010s when a racist internet meme revitalized the character in a negative manner.
• MetLife: Snoopy spent decades as the mascot of the company, but was retired along with the other Peanuts characters after MetLife's restructuring in 2016.
• Before Nesquik's Quicky was used worldwide, locals mascots were sometimes used, like Groquik◊ until 1990. At one point, even Adam West was a mascot (as "Captain Quik")!
• Nickelodeon's mascot in the mid-to-late '90s was Stick Stickly, a talking popsicle stick with a face on it. He hosted various blocks and promotions on the network and even received a few TV specials (Oh, Brother! and Stuck). He was retired after 1998, but was brought back on NickRewind during the "The '90s Are All That" and "The Splat" brandings of the block.
  • Replacing Stick Stickly in 1999 were Henry and June of KaBlam!, having them serve as the hosts of various programming blocks on the network as well as the "Nicktoon World News" segments. Nickelodeon retired them in 2001 (a year after KaBlam! had ended) and unlike Stick Sticky, have not been revived since.
• Nick Jr has two now abandoned mascots:
  • The first mascot it had was a sentient face on a colored wall simply known as Face, who who had a 10 year run on the channel from 1994 to 2004. He returned in June 2022 for the show Face's Music Party.
  • After the channel underwent a revamp and Face was dropped, he would be replaced by Piper O'Possum, who lasted for three years from 2004 to 2007. After that, Piper got the boot and the channel now has no mascot.
• Noggin, a edutainment channel by Nickelodeon, has cycled through three mascots:
  • The channel had a small green pickle creature named Phred as its mascot for its first few years.
  • He was replaced with a circular blue ball creature named Feetface when the network was retoooled for a younger demographic in 2002.
  • Feetface would be replaced the following year by Moose A. Moose and Zee the blue jay, who not only served as the network's mascots for the rest of its existence, but even jumped over to the new Nick Jr. network that eventually replaced it. They were finally phased out in 2012, due to concerns that they were taking too much spotlight away from the characters in the network's programs. When Noggin was revived as an app, Moose and Zee returned to once again serve as the brand's mascot, only to be phased out yet again in 2019 for the same reasons they were removed from Nick Jr.
• PG Tips has flirted with animal mascots over the years, starting with the Tipps family (1956-2002), the T-Birds (2003-2007) and later Monkey (2007-2017, inherited from ITV Digital).
• Pizza Hut originally had a mascot named "Pizza Hut Pete". Pete wore an apron, red neckerchief, a sleeveless checkered shirt and a cowboy hat (later a chef’s hat). He was phased out by the end of the 1970s.
  • Other mascots of note include Pizza Head (a talking pizza slice from The '90s) and the Japan-only Hut Monster, as well as the infamous Pizza Hut Girl from the The Phantom Menace tie-in campaign that crossed over with Taco Bell (represented by their chihuahua mascot, who has since been dropped) and KFC (represented by Colonel Sanders).
• Pop-Tarts has had two mascots who have both been abandoned:
  • Throughout the 1970s, Milton the Toaster was the mascot for Kellogg's Pop Tarts.
  • Then, in the early 2000s, a new series of commercials starring sentient Pop Tarts and ravenous Crazy-Good Kids were made that lasted for pretty much the entire decade. The commercials made a comeback in 2013, but they have since stopped.
• According to founder Al Copeland, Popeyes Fried Chicken was actually named after Det. "Popeye" Doyle from The French Connection, but for over 30 years the restaurant chain used Popeye the Sailor as a marketing mascot. Popeye would be gradually phased out of promotional materials starting in the 1990's until the licensing agreement with King Features Syndicate was officially terminated in 2012 (by that point the eponymous sailor man had grown a lot more obscure in popular culture).
• Progressive, for a while in the 2010’s, made their Auto Insurance Box into a mascot, but the problem was he was incredibly smug and arrogant, which made it hard for anyone to like him. By the end of the decade, the Box was quietly retired.
• Quaker Cereals:
  • Cap'n Crunch had a bunch of other mascots he shared the box with until the late 80s. The cereals then dropped the secondary mascots and just kept the Cap'n. These would include Wilma the Vanilla Whale, the Crunch Berry Beast, and the Soggies.
  • Quisp and Quake were two rivaling cereal mascots who occasionally cameoed in other Quaker Oats ads. Quisp was a space alien who gave kids "quazy" energy, while Quake was a miner/cowboy superhero. Quisp won in a landslide, and Quake fell by the wayside.
  • In the 1960s, the UK division's Sugar Puffs had Jeremy the Bear, who was initially an actual bear (subsequently donated to Camperdown Zoo, Dundee, she died in 1990), then later represented by a cartoon teddy bear in a jersey with a J on it, before being replaced by the more successful Honey Monster in the seventies.
• Ralston Purina —> General Mills:
  • Cookie Crisp went through a handful as well:
    • 70s, Cookie Jarvis the wizard was first.
    • 80s. Followed by Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop with Chip the Dog. Their shtick was that Cookie Crook and Chip's heists were always ruined because Chip would howl when he found the cereal, giving themselves away.
    • 90s, Followed by Chip the Dog by himself, howling the name of the cereal.
    • 2000s, Followed by Chip the Wolf who howls the name of the cereal.
    • 2000s, Followed by a new iteration of Chip the Wolf who no longer howls. His original design also wore a red hoodie and blue pants but the later version is naked.
    • In some countries, Chip is replaced with a panther mascot. No, really.◊
• Robertson's jam in the UK used a golliwog character from 1910 until 2001. Campaigns to "bring the golliwog back to Robertson's jam" regularly go viral, despite the fact that Robertson's doesn't even make jam anymore (since 2012 it has been purely a marmalade brand).
• The first advertisements for Sonic Drive-In had a well-dressed man walking with a sack of hamburgers. He was soon dropped.
• Starting in 2000, Subway began running ads featuring a man named Jared Fogle who claimed to have lost 200 lbs by, in part, eating at Subway. They started phasing him out of advertisements in 2008 in favor of emphasizing their Five Dollar Footlong menu, then cut ties with him completely in 2015 after he was arrested and plead guilty to charges of possessing child pornography and illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
• The Taco Bell chihuahua (mentioned above) was used from 1997 until the campaign became unprofitable in 2000, though that didn't stop rumors that it was because the dog died (in reality, the dog from the campaign, Gidget, died in 2009 at the age of 15).
  • Briefly in The '90s, Taco Bell had a pair of kids' meal mascots, a cat named Nacho and a dog whose name was Dog.
• Tetley's Tea had the "Tea Folk", little gnome-like beings, from the seventies to the turn of the millennium. They were briefly revived in the 2010s, with the idea they'd been in hibernation until someone spilled a cuppa in the right place, and were fascinated to learn of Tetley's new developments like green tea and redbush. They disappeared again in 2016.
• Virgin Cola had the Jamie Hewlett-designed Roller Cola Girl from 1999-2000, though she continued to appear on the brand's website until 2003.
• Weetabix had the Weetabix Gang (Dunk, Bixie, Crunch, Brains and Brian), anthropomorphic wheat biscuits in jeans and Doc Martens, on a crusade against "titchy breakfasts" and telling children to "Make it neat wheat, mate, if you know what's good for you". They were last seen in 1989.
• A more extreme version of the trope has been enforced in Latin American nations since the late 2010s in order to combat childhood obesity, with cereal companies like Kellogg's forced to ditch their mascots altogether outside of reformulated/reduced sugar versions of certain cereal brands.
• Loopy used to be the mascot of Kellogg's Honey Loops (and some of its international variants) from the 1990s to the late-2000s/2010s where he was replaced by the female bee mascot of Miel Pops (known as Honey Pops in the UK), Pops.

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