Wise Potato Chips Updates Peppy the Owl – Unwisely

Remember Peppy, the owl mascot of Wise Potato Chips? That's the beloved feathery symbol of the company above. He was on the Wise bag for years; I remember him from when I was a kid.

Peppy's been featured on this blog many times, most recently when the retired mascot made a special appearance on a specially designed Wise Potato Chip bags in honor of the firm's 100th Anniversary in 2021.

Well, Wise Potato Chips has brought him back, just in time for the snack firm's Golden Prize Sweepstakes promotion, which has daily cash prizes and a big $10,000 Grand Prize Drawing. It runs from July 1, 2025 to August 29, 2025.

Unfortunately, someone thought it was a good idea to update Peppy's design. Feast your eyes on the 'new' Peppy. I'm not wide-eyed with enthusiasm over his new look.  

The design of the bags themselves, however, is quite nice. Here's the whole flavor lineup.

But I don't understand why the firm that did the redesign didn't use the original Peppy design as a starting point. Peppy had a very specific structure to his face and body, and the shape of his head. Why not streamline it and render it in a modern, appealing style instead of just trashing it? 

Unfortunately, that seems to be the trend. We saw it with Travelodge's Sleepy Bear and his unbearable makeover. And Kellogg's made a soggy mess out of its whole cereal mascot menagerie, redesigning all of them – poorly.

Peppy doesn't even appear to partake of his own potato chips, judging by his trim physique.

The funny thing is, Peppy was redesigned once before. Remember this version of him with a red, rad mohawk?

He may have looked a little odd, but we knew it was still Peppy. He probably didn't like it either and was just bullied into it by a know-it-all suit. Pep should have dropped a few owl pellets in the adman's martini when he wasn't looking.

Oh well. To me, this (below) will always be the real Peppy.

And a thumbs down to this impostor, posing appropriately in front of bundles of loot – which Wise hope to make from this caper. He needs to be hooted down.