Top 10 Fast Food Mascots

Top 10 Fast Food Mascots

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Top 10 Food Mascots

Advocates of healthy living, they sure ain’t! Advertising heroes, they sure are! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 fast-food mascots! For this list, we’ve looked at the invented mascots used to market a fast-food restaurant. If you’re more inclined to supermarket purchases, then our ‘Top 10 Food Mascots’ and ‘Top 10 Cereal Mascots’ videos might be more to your taste!

Who knew pizza needed a pesky rodent to endorse it?? Chuck E. is our choice at 10! He’s a culinary critter with character for two, and he’s not afraid to change with the times. In 1977, when the restaurant that combined food, arcade games and more was first conceived by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Chuck was a rat… Quickly and smartly, he was softened into a mouse… and recently, he underwent a mini-mid-life crisis! In 2012, the mouse received a makeover for the modern market, and now he’s a more rockin’ rodent!

#9: Big Boy Big Boy Restaurants

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A multi-faceted, multi-franchised company, it all comes together under the smiling, searching gaze of this guy. Big Boy was a big business move when he was created following the chain’s founding in 1936: the fiberglass statues have since become a symbol of the United States and Big Boy himself became a comic-book hero! Originally inspired by a six-year-old customer, the mascot shares his name with the franchise’s double-decker burger, and his welcoming smile and twinkling eyes have invited burger-lovers to the restaurant ever since.

#8: The Noid Domino’s Pizza

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The nasty but nice Noid is intent on icing up your pizza, but isn’t powerful enough to do so! Dominos created him as testament to their freshness, as this rabbit-eared rascal routinely fails to find enough time to cool the pizza down within their thirty-minute window. Clad in a red spandex full body suit, his fashion sense is almost as criminal as his intentions. However, we still hold a soft spot for his niggling, wriggling ways, for some reason – and in fact he was so popular he even spawned a video game!

Sometimes, simple sells! That’s clearly the case at Arby’s, where an oven mitt with a mouth and the voice of Tom Arnold became the face-ish of their food in 2003. The facial expression is difficult to read – it’s somewhere between satisfied and suave – but this red and white kitchen accessory is as famous as he is friendly. Though many viewers had a love-hate relationship with the mitt, he was around to remind consumers that Arby’s only used fresh roast beef in their sandwiches. It proved a red-hot marketing move!

#6: Jack Box Jack in the Box

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For the first time on this list, we get particularly freaky. Jack Box appears respectable… from shoulder-to-toe! He dons a suit and holds himself well. But, he has an oversized, snowman-inspired head with a frozen face! He’s evidently the CEO of the Jack in the Box chain, and, after being dramatically dropped, was re-introduced in 1994 to distance the brand from food contamination scandal. More recently, he was the subject of a particularly extensive promotional campaign… In 2009, Jack was hit by a bus, hospitalized, and eventually revitalized, in a social media story that modernized marketing!

She isn’t animatronic, she doesn’t have any particular peculiarities, but she is one of the most famous faces in all of fast food. Wendy was originally inspired by the 8-year-old daughter of restaurant founder and spokesman Dave Thomas, adding a touch of cuteness to his carb-loaded meals. Her pigtails, hair bows and striped shirt merge together to form a red white and blue combo almost as recognizable as the star spangled banner itself!

#4: The Taco Bell Chihuahua Taco Bell

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It’s a questionable cultural stereotype, but this pooch’s popularity saw her promote Taco Bell throughout the ‘90s. Created to make a dent in the Burger Wars, the Taco Bell Chihuahua was such a hit; she was a part of pop culture! Through the use of Carlos Alazraqui’s voiceover, she was presented as masculine when she was in fact all-woman! Real name Gidget, she was often pursuing a love interest, when in fact all she wanted was Tacos. The dog always has its day though, and the bitch always got her burritos!

#3: The Burger King Burger King

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They’re one of the most famous fast-food chains on Earth, but he’s unlike anything else to have walked it! The ‘Creepy’ King, as he was popularly dubbed, was a royal weirdo in need of a shave and some social skills, and yet he sold burgers with considerable success… Somehow. Though he was a spin on earlier King-based campaigns and characters, this iteration of the King was inexplicably the most popular. His reign came to an end in August 2011, however, when the burger joint forced him into an early advertisement abdication.

Colonel Harland Sanders is perhaps one of the most widely recognized figures of the 20th century – at least, in the fast-food world. The creator and the face of KFC, his image was developed as a cheap marketing ploy. And it worked: today the Colonel’s mug is plastered across food courts, TV screens and roadside signage across the world. An awesome entrepreneur, he turned a roadside restaurant into an international franchise that was ‘finger lickin’ good’ and fried to perfection! Sanders died in 1980, but may his caricatured features live on for years to come! Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: - Rooty, the Great American Root Bear A&W Restaurants - Little Caesar Little Caesars - The Lips Dairy Queen - Subway Monkey Subway

They’re the biggest fast-food chain, and he’s the best fast-food mascot! The face of McDonalds, Ronald McDonald has achieved icon status since his conception in 1963. He has Wendy’s red hair, The King’s freaky appearance, and the Colonel’s kindly character. Put it all together and you have a master of the mascots! With the Hamburgular and Grimace and the rest of his phased-out McDonaldland pals, Ronald has won this race by more than his red nose. He’ll be as ‘happy’ as his meals with our gold medal round his neck! Do you agree with our list? Which fast-food mascot did we miss? For more nutritionally questionable Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.