Failed Fast-Food Mascots
Well, as bad as some real fast food mascots have been, there are some that never even made it past a couple of test screenings. Here, CRACKED presents a comprehensive list of the worst fast-food mascots ever conceived.
"Roid Rage Chicken," KFC
Bred without a beak or an asshole, this steroid-saturated, four-foot tall chicken flies into a violent tantrum, beating its spouse and threatening the cameraman when it' character is questioned. It then writes a best-selling memoir, exposing fellow mascot chickens of also beefing up. Then its genitals implode.
"Applebee' Strumpet Waitress," Applebee'
When she' not working a double, sporadic nursing student "Amy" has unprotected sex with random men who wear visors and barbed wire tattoos. Her latest child, Trey, is named after that dude who makes the salads who is probably the father. Her catchphrase: "The optimistic slogans on the buttons I wear help me get through the day without crying!" proved to be one of the least successful catchphrases of all time.
"'Let It Go' Larry," Carl' Junior
After a failed attempt at using a bikini clad Paris Hilton to make burgers topped with onion rings sexy, Carl' Junior adopted a resounding "fuck it" stance with Larry, the antithesis of Subway' Jared. Addicted to Carl' Junior' Rodeo Burger and tattered word jumbles, Larry is 380 pounds of food-stained, slow-moving apathy.
"The Ghost of Dave Thomas," Wendy'
While initially envisioned as a good natured cross between the Family Circus' "Not Me" character and the Coz' "Ghost Dad" the decision to portray Thomas' face as realistically decomposed, along with his catch phrase, "Oh oooooooh, oooooooh how I miss the natural world! I'd suck dick for a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger," lent the campaign a creepy air of necrophilia that proved decidedly unappetizing.
"Harold McRib, Deadbeat Dad," McDonalds
To accentuate the McRib' intermittent appearances on the McDonald' menu, the fast food giant tossed around the idea of a transient, suitcase-toting father/husband figure, desperately trying to re-acclimate himself into the family fold. The pilot advertisement featured the mascot banging on the front door, yelling his never-to-catch-on catch phrases, "Baby, I'm back, please give me another chance", and culminated with Harold sulking at the OTB, solemnly addressing the audience with a closing statement, "Don't make the McRib go away again."
"The Horse," Arby'
To alleviate a restaurant-wide surplus of "Horsey Sauce" packets, Arby' briefly ran an ad featuring an electroanimatronic horse that approached tables with baskets of "Horsey Sauce", repeating the gleeful claim, "It comes from meeeeeee!!!" However, actors' inability to get through dress rehearsals without vomiting ensured that the campaign never got off the ground.
"Have You Seen The White Castle Ads?!?!?!" White Castle
Riding the wake of Burger King' recent and wildly successful what-the-fuck?? ad campaign featuring the King and the giant droning, cowboy hat-wearing tooth, White Castle launched a confuse-off that was apparently too intense for focus group participants. Promos focused on an eight-foot, African-American cowboy with a mechanical arm and a glowing red eye that crashes into private homes through the wall or window, extracts the residents by the backs of their necks, takes them an unknown distance to a White Castle location, and throws them into the dining area through the plate glass window. The gargantuan cowboy then joins the bedraggled, moderately injured party at a table and begins to recite dialogue from the 2002 Robert Duvall film, Assassination Tango. Campaign was also designed to provide work for young, creative, funny, and pop-culturally literate idea people that insist on wearing New Balance sneakers with blazers.
