{"id":6408,"date":"2015-04-08T08:28:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T15:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/?p=6408"},"modified":"2019-03-16T13:14:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T20:14:07","slug":"the-mcdonalds-ads-that-mimicked-h-r-pufnstuf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/2015\/04\/08\/the-mcdonalds-ads-that-mimicked-h-r-pufnstuf\/","title":{"rendered":"The McDonald&#8217;s Ads That Mimicked &#8216;H.R. Pufnstuf&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Here&#8217;s a little interesting piece of pop culture history that want to share with you all! Did you know that McDonald&#8217;s once ripped off Sid and Marty Krofft&#8217;s TV show of live-action, life-sized puppets, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1yc4E2v\">H.R. Pufnstuf<\/a><\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hollywoodplace\/3188718486\/in\/set-72157625142239242\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"505\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6422\" src=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-07-at-9.20.46-PM.png\" alt=\"McDonaldland\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-07-at-9.20.46-PM.png 650w, https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-07-at-9.20.46-PM-640x497.png 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><strong>Back in the early 1970s, McDonald&#8217;s ad agency consulted with the Kroffts&#8217; about doing an ad campaign called McDonaldland that was similar in look and feel to <em>H.R. Pufnstuf<\/em>. McDonaldland&#8217;s characters would be adaptations of the ones from the Kroffts&#8217; popular Saturday-morning show.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The quality of this video isn&#8217;t very good but it shows the trippy McDonaldland TV commercial from 1971, which I think you will agree looks A LOT like the Kroffts&#8217; <em>H.R. Pufnstuf<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class='flex-video widescreen'><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MCDONALDLAND AD COMPILATION\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RWwnNq_i-7k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s another:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class='flex-video widescreen'><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"1970 McDonaldland &quot;Say Cheeseburger&quot; Commercial\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YWVQpJgPgIU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the song&#8217;s lyrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Get yourself ready for a trip through McDonaldland,<br \/>\nTake along a friend and grab ahold of Ronald&#8217;s hand,<br \/>\nFollow Ronald McDonald through the land of apple pie trees,<br \/>\nand don&#8217;t be surprised if you meet Big Mac and Big Cheese.<br \/>\nThere are thick shake volcanoes, you&#8217;ll even find a french fry stash<br \/>\nNow just turn around and see if you won&#8217;t find a hamburger patch<br \/>\nas you&#8217;re heading for&#8230;A McDonald&#8217;s&#8230;in McDonaldland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hollywoodplace\/5077902003\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"301\" height=\"503\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6419\" src=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-07-at-9.14.40-PM.png\" alt=\"McDonaldland\" \/><\/a>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mentalflossr.tumblr.com\/post\/3376558849\/mayor-mccheese-v-h-r-pufnstuf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6429\" src=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/McDonaldland.jpg\" alt=\"McDonaldland\" \/><\/a>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mentalflossr.tumblr.com\/post\/3376558849\/mayor-mccheese-v-h-r-pufnstuf\"><em>Mental Floss<\/em> tells<\/a> more of the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;According to Hal Erickson\u2019s book <em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1yc7ch6\">Sid and Marty Krofft<\/a><\/em>, the ad men asked the Kroffts some pretty specific questions about their creative and technical processes, right down to what fabrics they used and how they got the characters\u2019 mouths to move.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>In short, the Kroffts&#8217; were told the campaign was cancelled, but, in 1971, the McDonaldland commericals began to air. So, they sued and won. <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/appellate-courts\/F2\/562\/1157\/293262\/\">The Kroffts sued McDonald\u2019s<\/a> for ripping off their idea and technology, and the legal battle stretched until 1977. &#8230;In the end, the Kroffts won $50,000, and according to Erickson\u2019s book, &#8216;have regularly collected checks from McDonald\u2019s, while the hamburger people have done their best to keep the particulars of the case out of the public\u2019s earshot.'&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/McDonaldland\">Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;McDonaldland itself, as it was depicted in the commercials, was a magical place where plants, foods, and inanimate objects were living, speaking characters. In addition to being the home to Ronald and the other core characters, McDonaldland boasted a theme park of &#8220;Thick Shake Volcanoes&#8221;, anthropomorphized &#8220;Apple Pie Trees,&#8221; &#8220;French Fry Bushes&#8221; (where McDonald&#8217;s French Fries grew from bushes), &#8220;The Hamburger Patch&#8221; (where McDonald&#8217;s hamburgers grew out of the ground like plants), &#8220;Filet-O-Fish Lake&#8221;, and many other fanciful features based around various McDonald&#8217;s menu items. In the commercials, the various beings are played by puppets or costumed performers, very similar to those used in the popular <em>H.R. Pufnstuf<\/em> TV show.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>H.R. Pufnstuf<\/em> is a lot of fun, as are all of the Krofft brother&#8217;s creations. You can get the <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1yc4E2v\">complete series on DVD<\/a>:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1yc4E2v\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"475\" height=\"475\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6412\" src=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HRPufnstuf.jpg\" alt=\"HRPufnstuf\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HRPufnstuf.jpg 475w, https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HRPufnstuf-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><\/a>\n<h6><\/h6>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B00QL5HQ6Y\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B000PWUFC6\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B000PWW3Y4\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B01MTMKUQ0\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B07FHKJH8Y\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=13503-20&l=alb&o=1&a=B00ZNRC9NQ\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" alt=\"\" style=\"position: fixed !important; bottom: -1px !important; right: -1px !important; border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><!-- A 2x5 Grid Template Layout. It can be configured by the two input fields below --><br \/>\n <!--Section tag for iterating through the list of items--><\/p>\n<div class=\"aalb-pg-ad-unit\" id=\"aalb-B00QL5HQ6Y-B000PWUFC6-B000PWW3Y4-B01MTMKUQ0-B07FHKJH8Y-B00ZNRC9NQ-US-13503-20-ProductGrid\">\n<h2 class=\"aalb-pg-ad-header\">Products from Amazon.com<\/h2>\n<p> <!-- Title of the ad localized according to the marketplace picked from the AalbHeader tag --><\/p>\n<div class=\"aalb-pg-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"aalb-pg-product-container\">\n<ul class=\"aalb-pg-product-list\">\n                  <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h6><em>images via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hollywoodplace\/sets\/72157625142239242\">Jordan Smith, Mental Floss<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a little interesting piece of pop culture history that want to share with you all! Did you know that McDonald&#8217;s once ripped off Sid and Marty Krofft&#8217;s TV show of live-action, life-sized puppets, H.R. Pufnstuf? Back in the early [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21640,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions\/21640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peewee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}