The Mainzelmännchen are six comedic cartoon characters used as mascots for German public service television broadcaster

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. They first aired on television in 1963 as a way to accommodate a government regulation disallowing confusion between advertising and content. The cartoon characters served as a transition between the two. They appear in between ads during broadcast, in roughly three to five second clips, and often during the satirical news program

Heute-show The ''heute-show'' ("(the) today show"; stylized in its logo as ''heute SHOW'') is a German Late night television, late-night news satire, satirical television program airing every Friday evening on public broadcasting channel ZDF. A conceptual ...

. The name is a combination

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, headquarters for ZDF, and

Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...

, a type of gnome common in folklore surrounding the city of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. Wolf Gerlach created the characters. The Mainzelmännchen have become quite popular across Germany. Radio dramas have been created surrounding them, as well as children's books, and numerous other kinds of merchandise.

Appearance and Actions

The Mainzelmännchen are either

wight A wight (Old English: ''wiht'') is a mythical sentient being, often undead. In its original use the word ''wight'' described a living human being, but has come to be used in fictional works in the fantasy genre to describe certain immortal bein ...

s or dwarves, and express similarities to Heinzelmännchen. They often wear a Phrygian cap, similar to

garden gnome Garden gnomes (german: links=no, Gartenzwerge, lit=garden dwarfs) are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known as gnomes. Th ...

s, however they lack a beard. Their appearances often last three to five seconds, during which they perform a single short gag. They usually speak in only a few short words, in a grumbly tone. Many of the gags are presented only visually and pantomimically. Their most famous saying is the traditional greeting „Gud’n Aamd“, a dialect coloured "Guten Abend" ("good evening"). Their given names are Anton, Berti, Conni, Det, Edi and Fritzchen.

References

{{Authority control ZDF 1963 German television series debuts German children's animated television series Advertising characters Male characters in advertising Fictional German people Corporate mascots Cartoon mascots Television mascots Television characters introduced in 1963 Comedy television characters Television shows adapted into comics German comic strips German comics characters