Buddy Lee was an

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for

Lee Jeans Lee is an American brand of denim jeans, first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. The company is owned by Kontoor Brands, a spin-off of VF Corporation's Jeanswear Division. Since 2019 its headquarters has been in Greensboro, North Carolina, re ...

. The

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

, a promotional item for the company from 1920 to 1962, was brought back as the star of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

for the company's Lee Dungarees line from 1998 until the mid-2000s.

Early years

Sales manager Chester Reynolds, later Lee's board president, came up with the idea of using a doll to "model" miniature versions of the company's clothes for store displays. The 12½-inch composition dolls first appeared in the windows of

Dayton's Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it ...

flagship store on

Nicollet Mall Nicollet Mall is a twelve-block portion of Nicollet Avenue running through downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is the shopping and dining district of the city, and also a pedestrian mall and transit mall. Along with Hennepin A ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, then were used at stores nationwide. Lee encouraged stores to sell the dolls after the displays were taken down, and later provided the dolls for retail sale, including versions dressed as a cowboy,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

deliveryman,

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

worker and gas station attendant. Starting in 1949, Buddy Lee was produced as a 13-inch hard plastic doll. Although female versions of the so-called Betty Lee doll surface from time to time, there was no official Betty Lee doll ever made by the H. D. Lee Company; they never made any female doll at all. These dolls instead are composition carnival dolls (term used by collectors – dolls sold at carnivals as prizes) that look similar to the Buddy Lee doll. This information is direct from the historian who researched the Lee company archives in 2008 for a special Lee company function on the Buddy Lee dol

The Buddy Lee dolls were discontinued in 1962 because they were no longer profitable. By then, Buddy Lee had become the second-highest-selling doll in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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Television advertising

In 1998, ad agency Fallon Worldwide, Fallon McElligott brought back the doll, along with the 1940s Lee tagline "Can't Bust 'Em," to promote the Lee Dungarees line, aimed at 17- to 22-year-old males. The main campaign was preceded by

guerrilla marketing Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service. It is a type of publicity. The term was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson's 1984 ...

techniques, including

movie trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

-style teaser spots, unbranded posters of the doll, and a 6-minute

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

, "The Buddy Lee Story," which was aired in segments during late-night

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

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The 1998 TV spots – "Car," "Twister" and "Parachute" – were directed by

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

while

Phil Morrison Phil Morrison may refer to: * Phil Morrison (yacht designer) (born 1946), British yacht designer * Phil Morrison (director), American film and television director * Phil Morrison (driver) (born 1977), British race driver * Phil Morrison (baseball ...

helmed the 1999 TV spots: "Actress" co-starring

Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...

, "Animal Guy" co-starring

Jack Hanna Jack Bushnell Hanna (born January 2, 1947) is a retired American zookeeper and a former director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. "Jungle Jack" was director of the zoo from 1978 to 1992, and is viewed as largely responsible for elevat ...

, "Blues Guy" co-starring

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guit ...

, "Sergeant" and "Fans". The comedic ads touted the unmoving Buddy Lee as a "Man of Action." The doll was usually presented as a heroic figure who survived all manner of certain doom, prompting his human co-stars to marvel at the durability of his jeans. Three nemeses for Buddy Lee – Curry, Roy, and Super Greg (the latter portrayed by

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

).{{Citation, author= Lauerman, Kerry , title=It's Borat Day! , publisher=Salon , date=2006-11-03 , work=Video Dog , url=http://archive.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2006/11/03/supergreg/index.html , access-date=2010-05-19 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707020754/http://archive.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2006/11/03/supergreg/index.html , archive-date=2009-07-07 – were introduced in 2000 through Web sites and appeared in three TV spots directed by Fredrik Bon

The following year, Lee Dungarees ads adopted a heroic folk song, folk theme song for the doll and the tagline "Be Like Buddy Lee." Besides "Apartment," "Street" and "Suburbia" directed by Ulf Johansson & Mats Lindberg from

Traktor Traktor is DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It is also used as a sub-brand for Native Instruments' associated DJ hardware products. History Traktor was first released in 2000. The initial versions available were ''Traktor DJ'' ...

and "Barbershop" directed by Craig Gillespie, this series also included a special unbranded ad – directed by Fallon art director Harvey Marco and aired on behalf of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

after the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

– in which the doll sports a rolled-up sleeve, bandage and "I Gave" sticker to promote

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2002's campaign consisting of the TV spots "Cheese" and "Emu" was directed by Dante Ariola while Chris Smith helmed 2003's "Trailer," "The Chase" and "Hall of Mirrors." In November 2004, the doll starred in "Buddy Lee: Guidance Counselor," a Jon Nowak-directed series of three 6-minute sponsored segments on otherwise commercial-free episodes of

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

's interactive show ''Control Freak''. Viewers voting online for videos on the show were also asked to choose one of three outcomes for the Buddy Lee segment

In 2005 Buddy Lee was promoted as a

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be po ...

br>presidential candidate for the 2008 election

References

Fictional characters introduced in 1920 Male characters in advertising Clothing advertising characters Doll brands

Early years

Television advertising

Related links

References