I didn't either. But there he was, wearing a painters cap emblazoned with a large 'K,' in several Kmart ads during the summer of 1975.
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| July 10, 1975 |
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| August 7, 1975 |
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| Sept. 4, 1975 |
Nevertheless, I was curious how long this ring-tailed varmint was used by Kmart in its ads. So I did a Google search – only to be told by Google's AI Overview that I was apparently cracking up. Read what it said for yourself.
"The idea of a Kmart raccoon mascot is an example of a '"mandela effect," where a large number of people collectively misremember the same fact," it says.
A large number of people? I'm probably the only person on Planet Earth thinking about this.
Harrumph.
Something local, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAI tut-tutting you about misremembering things is rich. Whenever I use these bots for subjects I already know about, I find that they just invent things and present them as facts.
ReplyDeleteWell, Dan this is your chance for national fame.You need to correct this oversight. The question is - where to post it. There is a sub Reddit for K Mart but it is run by the company, not fans. And it only has 11K members. When I did a Google search I did not get a bot, I got you! So it has already begun. The only other mention of a K Mart mascot shows Mr Bluelight and it was just a blue lightbulb with a face. That post was on the Reddit r/nostalgia so that might be a good place. If you don't have a Reddit account I can do it, I'm a Top 1% poster with all my history posts.
ReplyDeleteJust an aside for your loyal readers, and I have mentioned this to you before, Dan. If you search for darn near anything about Lorain County history this blog is always among the top results. Your work is immortal!
Hi Dennis! I just did another Google search to see if today's blog post had any effect, and sure enough, now the AI Overview sez: "A local or regional advertisement for Kmart's building materials, possibly from September 1975, may have featured a cartoon raccoon. This is likely the origin of the persistent, but often incorrect, memory of a Kmart raccoon mascot."
DeleteYou're talking to the wrong A.I.
ReplyDeleteWhen shown the image, Claude (from Anthropic) says:
"This raccoon mascot might have been a relatively brief or specific campaign element for K-Mart in 1975. Given that you've only found it in that summer 1975 timeframe so far, it could have been:
A short-lived mascot that didn't catch on long-term
Part of a seasonal summer campaign
Specifically used for their building materials/home improvement section
A regional test that wasn't rolled out nationally
The fact that it's prominently featured with the "K" cap suggests it was an official K-Mart character, but the limited timeframe you've observed suggests it didn't have the staying power of their Blue Light Special branding. It's a neat piece of K-Mart history that seems to have been overlooked in most discussions of their marketing evolution. The mid-1970s were a time when many retailers were experimenting with different mascots and branding approaches, so this raccoon was likely part of that broader trend."