Lorain County Fair Ad Mascot Giveaways

It's good to see that two of my favorite old-time advertising mascots still have a presence at the Lorain County Fair – both at the Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. house.

The good folks there are giving away two nifty items. Above is a Willie Wiredhand sliding tile puzzle (remember those?), and below is a leak detection kit featuring Willing Water on the front. (The leak kits – which contain a colored tablet that you drop in your toilet's tank– have been given away at the Fair for years.)

Speaking of Willing Water, I recently noticed that he has a permanent presence on Route 6 at Shell Cove Park in Sheffield Lake (my town). He's featured on the educational kiosks there.

The Many Faces of Willing Water

Yesterday I mentioned how the advertising mascot Willing "Willie" Water had lapsed into the public domain because the American Water Works Association had let his copyright expire. As a result, any water utility in the country is free to use him in whatever manner they choose.

A quick search on Google shows that Willing Water is still out there, working behind the scenes in water departments all over the country. (Click on the above image to see a larger version.)

Meet Willing Water Part 2

As the official advertising mascot of the American Water Works Association since the 1940s, Willing Water was once almost as visible as Reddy Kilowatt in his heyday.

One of the most popular uses of Willing Water was on the ubiquitous "Water At Your Service" logo. It was used all over the country by various water utilities. The logo is still used on Water Department trucks in my town, Sheffield Lake.

Willing Water was featured in his own comic book in 1966, as well as a cookbook that same year. So what happened to Willie since then?

In the 1980s, the American Water Works Association quietly discontinued his use and decided to let the copyright lapse as well. That means that even though Willing Water is now more or less an orphan, water utilities are free to use him as they see fit.

Meet Willing Water Part 1

Here's a little something I picked up at the Rural Lorain County Water Authority booth at the Lorain County Fair a few weeks ago. It is a leak detection kit consisting of dye tablets used to find leaks in toilets – but that's not why I'm interested in it.

I'm interested in it because the cover of the kit features a classic advertising mascot, Willing Water or "Willie Water" for short. (Gee, the Lorain County Fair seems to be a good place to find ancient advertising mascots named Willie!)

Willing Water was created by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) in the late 1940s to increase awareness of the behind-the-scenes service that water utilities provided. He had a water droplet for a head that overshadowed his stick-figure body. He also had an upturned collar, similar to a butler's uniform, that gave him a formal look appropriate for a servant to the public.

Member utilities of the AWWA were given clip art of Willling Water to use in their advertising or as they pleased. They were even allowed to redraw him in other poses as long as they preserved his basic features and included the letters AWWA. In the 1960s, the AWWA even made available a three-dimensional Willing Water "head" that could be worn for publicity photos.

Next: Willing Water's watery fate