Jack Box (full name Jack I. Box or simply known as Jack) is the primary
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 ...
of the
Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast ...
fast food restaurant
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...
chain. In
television commercials
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
, he is the founder,
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
and ad spokesman for the chain. His appearance is that of a typical male, with the exception of his huge spherical white head, blue dot eyes, conical black pointed nose and curvilinear red smile. He is most of the time seen wearing his trademark yellow
clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
cap and
business suit
A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...
.
The company has used the Jack Box mascot in its advertising since 1994 and has won a number of advertising awards for the long campaign.
["Jack in the Box, Inc."](_blank)
''The Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns'', (Gale Group
Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.
The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
, 2006), , vol. 2, pp. 811ff .
History
Prior to 1980, the chain used a huge
clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
head as its symbol, which sat atop the
drive-thru
A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the Unite ...
menu
In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established seque ...
s in the 1960s and early 1970s. A rotating clown head was also atop the large signs at each location. In 1980, the chain decided to establish a more "mature" image by introducing a wider variety of menu items and (most notably) discontinuing the use of Jack. A series of
television commercial
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s announced that "now we stand for great new food", to which the commercials showed the dramatic destruction of the notorious clown heads (most commonly through explosion, also dropping them from a crane and launching them like a rocket). Throughout the late 1980s to the 1990s, Jack in the Box tried to position itself as a premium fast food alternative, with varying results.
In 1993, a
major food contamination crisis was linked to Jack in the Box restaurants. By 1994, a series of lawsuits and negative publicity took their tolls and pushed their corporate parent, Foodmaker Inc. to the verge of bankruptcy. In the short term, they decided to promote their initiatives on food safety. Management then approved a new
guerilla advertising campaign created by Richard "Rick" Sittig, then working at the
TBWA\Chiat\Day
TBWA\Chiat\Day ( ) is the American division of the advertising agency TBWA Worldwide. Created in the 1995 merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, the agency operates offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, and Mexico City. Prior to the merger, ...
ad agency in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. The concept brought back the original company mascot, Jack, but now in the form of a savvy and no-nonsense businessman who happened to have an enormous round clown head.
A series of new commercials featured a new and more serious Jack with a smaller head and wearing a business suit (according to him, "thanks to the miracle of
plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
"). In the very first of these new commercials, he blew up the board of directors as retribution for his supposed destruction in 1980 (using the 7-note musical signature in its previous campaign as a tribute). Their intent was to prove to a wary public that the company was no longer the same restaurant chain plagued by the food safety scandal, and because the commercials had a definite humorous element to them that undermined the alleged "retribution" that Jack was supposedly demonstrating in these commercials and overall, the public responded positively.
Car antenna ornaments modeled after Jack's head have been a mainstay of the restaurant chain's promotion for several years since 1997.
Rick Sittig voiced Jack until 2015. He left TBWA/Chiat/Day in 1997, taking the ad campaign with him to his own agency in Santa Monica, first called "Kowloon Wholesale Seafood Co." and later as Secret Weapon Marketing. Jack in the Box ended its relationship with Sittig and Secret Weapon in 2015.
Fictional biography
The company's "biography" of him claims the following facts:
* According to his
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
driver's license
A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...
, Jack I. Box is 6'8" tall and weighs 195 pounds. It also shows his
birthday
A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage.
Many relig ...
to be May 16.
* Jack was born on a
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. He later moved to Southern
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where he met his blonde wife, Cricket, played by model
Laura Dunn
Laura Beale (also Dunn) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', played by Hannah Waterman. She first appeared on 17 February 2000 and became a regular on the programme until the character was killed-off on 30 April 200 ...
(1996–2010) and
Gillian Vigman
Gillian Vigman (born January 28, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She has played Jack Box's Wife in many Jack in the Box commercials, and is a recurring cast member of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv''. Vigman also st ...
(2010–present). They now have a young
son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
named Jack Jr. (who, like all males in the Box
family tree
A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms.
Representations of ...
, also has an oversized
bald
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...
head). However, in May 2010, Jack appeared in a new commercial with a woman that did not resemble Cricket, who appeared with him in a commercial in 1997. The pair took in a movie where Jack complained and cried about the price of popcorn in relation to his low-priced menu. Jack revealed to his son that he really met Cricket at a concert at the
Oracle Arena
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
in Oakland, CA where Jack's heavy metal band, Meat Riot was playing their one hit wonder song, "Hot Mess" which was the opening act.
* Jack is an
alumnus
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
of
Ball State University
Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis.
On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...
, a reference to his ball-shaped head.
* Jack, fluent in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and Chinese, has starred in more than 300
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 ...
and
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
commercials, including more than 100 Spanish-language ads. Jack's linguistic talents also include
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, which he spoke in the 1999 television ad "Titans."
* Jack ran for president in 1996 and beat out
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
,
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
and
Dogbert
This is a list of characters that have appeared in Scott Adams' ''Dilbert'' comic strip.
Primary characters
Dilbert
The main character in the strip, Dilbert is a stereotypical technically-minded single male. Prior to October 2014, he was us ...
in a national independent Virtual Vote poll; no recounts were required.
* During
Super Bowl XXXV
Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
, Jack in the Box debuted a television commercial in which Jack announced his purchase of a professional
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team, the Carnivores. His team played against teams such as the
Tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...
Eaters and the Vegans.
Other facts and family members
* In late 2009, the company began to run a commercial in which Jack visited his cousin Jim, who was serving time in prison. Jim has a large white head that resembles a Ping-Pong ball squashed from both sides (similar in shape to a peanut shell), with wispy gray hair and beard, along with a surly voice and facial expression. Unlike his cousin, he does not wear a clown cap.
* In 2010, a commercial aired where Jack visits his mother Patty, a blond-haired human, talking about her clipping coupons; at the end of the ad, Jack's father (who has a normal body, and a white head which resembles an egg, with wispy grey hair on his temples) comes in, saying "Patty, call the doctor; it's been more than 4 hours" (implying that he suffers from
erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...
). Jack then says he has to leave.
* In late 2012, a commercial introduced Jack's cousin Joey and his son Joey Jr., who live in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Both have large egg-shaped white heads, a slight upward curve to their noses, and brown hair in a mullet. Joey's wife has a normal head.
* Near the end of both 2013 and 2014, a series of commercials for the "Jack's Munchie Meal" combo featured a small puppet version of Jack interacting with a human late at night. Both spoke and acted as if they were under the influence of drugs.
* Jack's smile can change to reflect his mood (puzzlement, fear, etc.). During one commercial, in which he was playing
Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...
against several celebrities, he made his eyes and mouth disappear completely. The announcer remarked, "Now ''that's'' a world-class poker face."
2009 bus accident advertising campaign
On February 1, 2009, a new advertising campaign began with a
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
ad that showed Jack being struck by a bus outside his corporate office. Along with his second in command, Phil, he was walking down the street, stating that he wants the public to know about the fact that the public can order anything on his menu, anytime. He states "For instance, breakfast all day, or maybe a burg-." At that moment, a bus is seen to strike Jack head on, as onlookers cringe and his hat knocked off. The ad ends with Jack lying on the ground badly injured while the paramedics are being summoned. Viewers were then directed to visit the website hangintherejack.com in order to check on his condition.
The next ad depicted Jack being checked into the hospital and being operated on as his heart stopped, as Doctor Robert Conely was talking about the a "midnight breakfast at Jack's" with Nurse O'Brien. It is also revealed that his large head did not fit into the
CAT scan machine and that the doctors were using unprofessional equipment (Doctor Conely states at the end of the ad to give him a hot glue gun and a bonesaw).
The third ad then showed Jack in a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
and Phil volunteering to take his place at the company's head, despite Jack not being dead (he felt that he was close enough to death that he should prepare to step up, and Dr. Conely even states that he might not live). All the while, another assistant named Barbara is more positive about the situation, stating that Jack will recover.
The fourth and final ad showed Phil, after snapping his fingers, announcing that he was going to take over Jack in the Box. Jack, regaining awareness of his surrounding (albeit only listening and blurred vision), thinks to himself that Phil using most of his ideas is a good thing. However, Phil states that he intends to change the company name, to "Phil in the Box", going as far to hold up the future company logo. At that moment, Jack suddenly wakes up and begins throttling Phil, stating that he will not let the name change occur and stating that he has work to do, all the while demanding his pants. The words "Jack's Back" then appear on the screen.
Shortly after the announcement, the company got rid of the old Jack in the Box logo and introduced a newer and more modernized logo, along with a redesigned website. The overall campaign was noted for its unusually extensive (for the time) use of
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
to gain viewer impressions at a lower cost than traditional media.
In other media
* The pilot episode of ''
American Dad!
''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...
'' shows
Stan Smith
Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. Smith is best known to non-tennis players as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles cham ...
falsely blaming a student body candidate at his son's school for having a sexual relationship with Jack. When his son,
Steve
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
states that he thought that Jack was in the basement of the Smith house, it cuts to houseguest
Roger Smith finding Jack in the basement, tied up and stripped down to presumably nothing.
* The April 24, 2009 edition of the
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...
4/24/2009 Adam Carolla Podcast (explicit)
/ref> Podcast featured Sittig, in character as Jack, involving a humorous discussion on other restaurant mascots (Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...
, The Burger King
The Burger King is a king character used as the primary mascot for the Burger King, fast-food restaurant chain of the same name. Throughout the company's history, the king has undergone several iterations. The first iteration of the Burger King w ...
), the fast food business and general listener Q&A. In the podcast, Jack insinuates that The Burger King is bisexual, citing his attire (tights, felt shoes and a cape). Carolla jumps in with a tale of the King buying a drink for a male friend of his in Canada, though this claim cannot be verified.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website
Official corporate website
Jack in the Box
American clowns
Corporate mascots
Fast food advertising characters
Male characters in advertising
Mascots introduced in 1994
Fictional businesspeople
Fictional clowns
Fictional business executives
Fictional characters from Colorado
Fictional characters from California