From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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The Pillsbury Doughboy is a famous trademark. A trademark is a special design or word that is used to represent a service or product. Inventions "do things", a car transports people, an umbrella protects you from the rain etc.

Famous Trademarks

Some well know trademarks are: Got Milk?, Channel No.5, Popsicle, Calvin Klein, the Pillsbury Doughboy figure, the shape of a Coke bottle, the sound of the NBC chimes and the graphical image of the NBC peacock.

History of the Pillsbury Doughboy

The Pillsbury Doughboy was created by an ad agency called Leo Burnett. Pacific Data Images, a pioneer in the world of computer graphics for film and video, created the animated version of the figure for the commercials. The name of the artist who actually first drew Poppin' Fresh (the Pillsbury Doughboy) was Martin Nodell. Nodell was working for the ad agency at the time, and he is the one who actually conceived of Poppin' Fresh and drew him. Mart Nodell is well known in the comic book world as the creator of the original Green Lantern.

In October of 1965, Pillsbury debuted the loveable 14-ounce, 8 3/4-inch character in a Crescent Roll commercial. The original voice of the Doughboy was performed by the actor Paul Frees (1920-1986). The Doughboy's costar in the commercial was Maureen McCormick.

Pillsbury Doughboy Trivia

Other trivia about the Pillsbury Doughboy: his formal name is Poppin' Fresh, the only music he ever performed was rap, he is all dough, he has blue eyes, he always wears a bakers hat and scarf, he originates from Minneapolis, MN, he loves to bake and twenty years ago he had a wife and two pets.