TNCW Gone Commercial

In 1961, the Leo Burnett Agency in Chicago developed the Charlie the Tuna campaign that made tuna the food of the masses and helped to bring tuna noodle casserole to every home in America. I once took a typing test for a a job at Leo Burnett, hoping to get a lackey job that would pay for a year's worth of college. I failed the test because I couldn't figure out how to type up a table on the stupid typewriter (pre-computer days), and I ended up working for a title agency in the basement of city hall.

Anyway, the campaign for canned tuna took off, and Charlie the Tuna became as much a part of my childhood psyche as Andy Griffith, Get Smart, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. The poor tuna was forever coming up with ways to attract Star-Kist so he could become the next big fish, as if he didn't realize he'd be gutted and filleted if he were caught. He wanted to prove how much taste he had as an artist or a connoisseur of something or other. It was always some other sea creature that would save his life by saying, "But Charlie, Star-Kist doesn't want tunas with good taste. Star-Kist wants tunas that tastes good."

Sometimes when I see a really stupid ad campaign or a product that is destined to fail, I wonder about the marketing team that sat around the conference table and all thought up the losing idea. When it comes to Charlie the Tuna, I wonder about the team that sat around in 1961 and came up with a sarcastic fish that wanted to be caught and was willing to make a fool of himself to do it. Whoever they were, they were brilliant.