The Fascinating Origin Of Carvel's Mascot, Fudgie The Whale

Iconic food mascots have been around for longer than you might realize. The first true food mascot was the Quaker Oats Man in 1877 (although the more cartoonish mascots would have to wait until the Planters Mr. Peanut character in 1916). They're a good marketing policy, as there's a fascinating psychology behind the success of food mascots, and they often branch out into other domains than ad copy, like how Bob's Big Boy is the fast food mascot that got his own comic series. And while some of their histories are as simple as "an ad agency thought of the character" and that's it, a few have origin stories that are a bit more complex.

Fudgie the Whale, the mascot for Carvel, might have one of the odder origin stories, because not only is he (and Carvel has been very definite that Fudgie is a "he") the mascot for the food brand, he is literally the food itself. Layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream come sandwiched around a thin center of the company's signature Crunchies, and the whole thing is coated liberally in — what else — fudge. Most of all, Fudgie wasn't some ad exec's creation; he was the personal brainchild of company founder Tom Carvel.

The Carvel company has a history of bizarre advertising practices, even aside from its colorful characters like Tom the Turkey and Cookie Puss. The company's deliberately low-rent TV commercials starring Tom Carvel himself (birth name Athanasios Karvelas) were so memorably bad that they ultimately inspired a "Saturday Night Live" parody sketch. But its advertising history probably reached its apotheosis with Fudgie the Whale.

Fudgie may not quite have the global reach of a character like Ronald McDonald or Colonel Sanders, but his backstory is arguably more fascinating than either of those. Fudgie's origin wasn't as a concept of some boardroom marketing meeting; Carvel himself came up with the idea for a marine-themed Father's Day cake. He had apparently just dealt with Mother's Day and was determined to make a cake that was as far as possible from feminine and flowery — hence Fudgie's very definite maleness and significant use of fudge, and the inscription on its first incarnation in 1977: "To a Whale of a Dad."

Those within the company were less enthused than Tom Carvel about a marine-themed cake; "fish" and "cake" are not typically words that go together in dessert applications, and doubters figured that people wouldn't line up for it. Carvel was adamant, though, and after a couple of trial attempts where things like goldfish fell flat over the course of a week, Carvel declared that it was going to be a whale, and that was the end of the discussion.

Ultimately, Carvel was right and the naysayers within the company were wrong: Fudgie sold like crazy from the start in 1977, and his popularity has never really waned. He's still selling extremely well 47 years later, even in hot areas like Florida. Carvel also sells Fudgie-inspired ice cream pints on Grubhub. More than any other Carvel creation, Fudgie has a memorable identity, appearing in mascot form at baseball games and professional wrestling events. After all, who doesn't love fudge and ice cream, especially when they're sold to you by a cute whale?