Funny Face (drink mix)

Funny Face was a brand of drink mix originally made and publicly sold by the Pillsbury Company,^[A] from 1964 to 1994.[5] and in limited productions (mainly in the Midwestern and New England regions of the U.S.A.) from 1994 to 2001. The brand was introduced as competition[6] to the similar (and more familiar and better-selling)[5] Kool-Aid made by Kraft Foods.

Original packages for the two Funny Face flavors deemed offensive and soon replaced. "Injun" was a slang alteration of "Indian" (in reference to Native Americans), extant from the 17th into the 20th centuries, and now considered racist. [1] "Chinese Cherry" displays the exaggerated epicanthic fold and buck teeth typical of stereotypes of East Asians in the United States, extant in the 20th and into the 21st centuries,[2] particularly seen in American World War Two anti-Japanese propaganda,[3][4] and now considered racist as well.[2]

The product came in assorted flavors and was intended to be mixed with water to make an enjoyable-tasting beverage. The product name "Funny Face" was based on the packaging and advertising created by Hal Silverman of the Campbell Mithun advertising agency.[7] Each flavor was designated by a cartoon character with an amusingly-distorted face. The original flavors, and their names, were Goofy Grape, Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry, Freckle-Face Strawberry, Loud-Mouth Lime, Injun Orange, and Chinese Cherry. These last two, being offensive ethnic stereotypes, were soon renamed to Jolly-Olly Orange and Choo Choo Cherry.[5][6]

Additional flavors were added later, including Captain Black Cherry, Chilly Cherry Cola, Lefty Lemonade (and Lefty Lemon-Lime), Loud Mouth Punch, Pistol Pink Lemonade, Rah-Rah Root beer, Rudi Tutti-Frutti, Tart Lil' Imitation Lemonade, Tart 'N' Tangy Lemon, With-It Watermelon,[5] Top Banana,[8] and Chug-a-Lug-a Chocolate,[9] the latter intended to be mixed with milk rather than water.[10]

The mix was sweetened with calcium cyclamate. Cyclamates and its salts (including calcium cyclamate and sodium cyclamate) were banned in the United States in 1970;[11] it was briefly replaced by saccharin, which proved unpopular, after which the product was offered unsweetened.[10]

Various promotional tchotchkes were offered as premiums in support of the brand, such as mugs and pitchers bearing the likeness of the various cartoon faces associated with each flavor.[10][8][12][9] A series of children's books such as "How Freckle Face Strawberry Got His Name" and similar titles were published.[8]

The brand's tagline was "Funny Face is Fun To Drink!"[13][14]

The Funny Face brand was purchased by Brady Enterprises in 1980, and continued to sell nationwide until 1994.[15] A limited production relaunch (albeit with some modifications for the 21st century) was briefly sold in selected areas from 1994 to 2001. On November 28, 2012, Decas Cranberry Products out of Carver, Massachusetts re-relaunched the Funny Face drink mix product and currently has resurrected a total of four of the original characters; this includes Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Choo Choo Cherry, and Goofy Grape. Once again, they received updated packaging designs for more modern times. A line of flavored dried cranberry and fruit snacks was also introduced using the four reprised characters.[16]

Notes

1. ^
   During the period covered by this article, the Pillsbury Company was an independent food company. It was purchased by Grand Metropolitan in 1989 and then by General Mills in 2001, by which time it was just a brand name used by General Mills (and by The J.M. Smucker Company, for some products).

References

1. "Injun [definition]". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
2. "Snapchat's buck-toothed, slant-eyed Asian photo filter is blasted as 'yellow face' racism". South China Morning Post. August 11, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
3. Jen Quraishi Phillips. "Why the 'Tokio Kid' Wore Glasses, and Other Adventures in Anti-Japanese WW2 Propaganda". Medium. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
4. jeepersfreepers (June 1, 2016). "WWII American anti-Japanese Posters". imgur. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
5. Todd Frye. "Funny Face drink mix". Todd Frye's Pop-Cult.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
6. Karlee Weinmann and Kim Bhasin (September 8, 2011). "12 Uncomfortably Racist Vintage Brand Mascots". Business Insider. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
7. Mayukh Sen. "Maybe These Pillsbury Drink Mix Mascots Are Best Left in 1965". Food52. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
8. Mary Jane Lamphier (July 31, 2017). "Funny Face Drinks are more fun!". Collector's Journal. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
9. "Chug-a-Lug-a Chocolate". Advertising Icon Museum. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
10. Doug Smith (October 17, 2011). "Drink mix stirs up some sour stories". Quad-City Times ]Quad Cities]. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
11. Carlos Vincent Domingues, Alex Leybelman, and Julie M. Fagan (2014). "FDA's Persistent Ban on the Artificial Sweetener Cyclamate". Semantic Scholar. doi:10.7282/T3Z321J5. S2CID 10259279. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. "Funny Face Cups (individual)". Pillsbury Funny Face [website]. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
13. Funny Face television advertisement on YouTube
14. Funny Face television advertisement, showing soon-discontinued Injun Orange and Chinese Cherry on YouTube
15. Brett Lang (August 8, 2009). "Funny Face gets animated". [Quincy, Massachusetts] Patriot Ledger. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
16. "Decas Cranberry Launches Funny Face Dried Cranberries in Single-Serve Packages [press release]". Marketwired. Retrieved September 4, 2018.

Further reading

• Silverman, Hal (1966). How the Funny Face Characters Got Their Names. Pillsbury Corporation.