Poppin' Fresh (Sometimes spelled Pop 'n' Fresh), the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising icon and mascot of The Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. He is a small anthropoid character apparently made out of dough. When poked in the stomach, he makes a short giggling noise, lightly grabs his stomach, and smiles.
Fresh was thought up by the Leo Burnett advertising agency's copywriter, Rudy Perz, as he was sitting in his kitchen in 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign. Perz imagined a living dough boy popping out of a Pillsbury Crescent Rolls can. To distinguish the dough boy from the rolls he gave it a scarf, a chef's hat, two big blue eyes, a blush when girls kissed him, and a soft, warm chuckle when poked in the stomach.
Perz originally conceived Fresh as an animated figure, but changed his mind after seeing a stop-action titling technique used in the opening credits for The Dinah Shore Show. A 3-D Doughboy doll of clay was then created at a cost of $16. Paul Frees (the voice of Rocky and Bullwinkle's Boris Badenov) was chosen to be Fresh's voice. Since then, Pillsbury has used Poppin' Fresh in more than 600 commercials for more than 50 of its products.
After Paul Frees' death in 1986, Dalton Benson Jr., (who also did the voice-over for Charlie the Tuna), took over. Today, the high-pitched giggles are done by JoBe Cerny, the on-camera star of Burnett's Cheer detergent advertising campaign.
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