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.
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.
Oh well. To me, this (below) will always be the real Peppy.
I'm being a grumpier-than-usual old man today so... Why the *heck* can't these kids, nowadays, leave classic mascots alone? The remake has Peppy looking like he's sells Ketamine on the streetcorner! I wouldn't even want to know the guy's name, let alone buy anything from him!
ReplyDeleteAnd... Wise were my favorite growing up; especially in the small, crackly, blue-green, cellophane bags. And Wise always had a respectable amount of grease, a touch too much salt, and enough burnt and / or green chips to make eating them an adventure!
Everyone seems to want to "update" everything these days, from mascots to superheroes to the Scriptures, and it seems (to me, anyway) that "updating" is nothing more than trashing something that was valued, cherished, and didn't need improvement.
ReplyDeleteDon & Alan pretty much covered my gripes. I officially endorse and associate myself with the remarks of my fellow geezers.
ReplyDeleteAnd Peppy looks like an asshole
ReplyDeleteI’m a designer by trade and was completely oblivious to Peppy. I was purely and simply put off by the design the moment I saw him in the grocery store aisle. “Who’s %*%# with my chip brand?” I said out loud. I’m a Wise man by birth and after resupplying weeks later, realizing this wingless, turd of an owl was clearly not going away anytime soon, I reached out to my mom. I told her how Wise had out-of-the-blue dropped some lame mascot called “Peppy” on us. She patiently educated me on the fact that Peppy was not new and that he was beloved by her and all the other kids growing up! Hard to describe the effect that had on me—the range of emotion what overtook me the moment she leveled the landscape of my purely subjective and ignorant context. I’d gone from plain old designer judgmental detestation, to outrage, sadness and a deep state of discouragement as once again, soulless corporate culture continues to erode anything that could ever be counted as special or have real, enduring brand value. The need for c-suite ignorants to constantly “better” everything as a means to show their worth within their own ranks is and will be for the foreseeable future, how “things are done” today. A lament for the true Peppy and a hope, that one day he’s back, cheerfully greeting us in the aisles again.
ReplyDelete