The California Raisin Advisory Board (or CALRAB) was a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

state marketing commission based in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

that was created in the mid-1900s to coordinate the regulation and promotion of the state's

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...

crop. The group became most noted from 1986 to 1994 for developing an international advertising campaign using

The California Raisins The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. The California Raisins w ...

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

characters. The California Raisin campaign was funded by an initial grant of US$3 million from the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

. Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. CALRAB was closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. In 1998, the California Raisin Marketing Board, funded by raisin growers, was established to replace CALRAB as the promotional organization for the raisin crop.

References

External links

California Raisin Marketing Board website
Raisins Agriculture in California Agricultural marketing organizations Agricultural organizations based in the United States Defunct organizations based in California Organizations based in Fresno, California 1900s establishments in California 1998 disestablishments in California Government agencies established in the 1900s Organizations disestablished in 1998 Agricultural marketing in the United States {{US-org-stub