The following page are filled with cast-off mascots - humanoid creatures who once served as advertising emissaries in newspapers and magazines. Most of these products are dead, leaving their mascots orphaned; in many cases, the mascots were cast off to satiate the public's taste for something new. None of them were particularly successful, or even well-loved. It's hard to love the frightening face of Pepeco Pete, or want to be embraced by the razor-blade arms of Pal, the Shaving Boy. But they tried hard, day in, day out.
Most of them labored in the food-ad pages of the newspaper. In Minneapolis, the Thursday paper had all the coupons and ads - page after page of tiny ads, each with its own tagline or mascot. On a good fat day the paper might teem with three dozen of these happy folk. Imagine the nervous thrill of a Wednesday night in the mascot world, as they prepared for their one big shot, their weekly attempt to snare the wandering eye to their master's products. Their payment? Nothing. Not even the promise of some ink the next week. Only the newspaper's habit of microfilming every page kept them from vanishing altogether.
This site went up in 1998, believe it or not. Now it's 2024. Let's take another look.