Five Fired Fast Food Mascots from the 80s and 90s

Fast food mascots are as iconic as their restaurants and menu items. While some have been around for decades in one form or another, other mascots have disappeared into pop culture history. Here are the stories of five of those fired fast food mascots from the 80s and 90s.

The Noid, Domino’s Pizza

The Noid was a nefarious mascot created for Domino’s Pizza in 1986. Donned in his red tights, bunny-like ears and “N” insignia, the stop-motion villain appeared in popular commercials in the mid to late 1980s. The Noid was villainous indeed! He tried everything he could to ruin pizzas and delay their delivery. However, he was foiled when trying to conduct his criminal behavior with Domino’s pizzas. They were just too hot, fresh and on time (this is when Domino’s had 30-minutes-or-less guarantee).

Compilation of 1980s Domino’s Pizza commercials featuring the Noid.

If you grew up in the 1980s and can recall these claymation commercials, you might remember the voice of the advertisements’ narrator, Andre Stojka. Andre was a familiar voice for many cartoon characters including Owl from the “Winnie the Pooh” cartoon movies. Andre Stojka is truly an under-the-radar legend in the field of voice acting.

Another thing you might remember is that the Noid had his own NES game called “Yo!Noid” and it was surprisingly good gameplay. In the game, the Noid becomes the protagonist, employed by the mayor of New York City to stop his green doppelganger and his band of creatures from wreaking havoc on the city. Interestingly, “Yo! Noid” was a modification of a Japanese video game called “Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru”. The hero of the Japanese version was originally a ninja.

Does this mean the Noid is actually a pizza ninja?

Yo!Noid gameplay, 1990.

On January 31, 1989, a mentally ill man named Kenneth Lamar Noid entered a Domino’s Pizza restaurant in Chamblee Georgia. Armed with a revolver, Noid took two employees hostage for over five hours. He was convinced that Domino’s had stollen his name and demanded $100,000 and a white limo as a getaway car from the corporate headquarters. The hostages escaped while Kenneth Noid was munching on pizzas he forced them to make. He eventually surrendered to police and was committed to a mental hospital.

The only thing sicker than Kenneth was the news media’s stupid headlines such as this example from the L.A. Times:

“Pizza Workers Can’t ‘Avoid Noid'--Held Hostage 5 Hours”

Very clever guys. Pulitzer Prize winning stuff right there.

I suppose that, from Kenneth’s ill mind, it might make sense. The Noid is obviously mentally ill himself, donning a skintight supervillain outfit; going around town trying to wreck pizzas.

The Noid was retired not long after the incident, prompting people to assume it caused the character’s demise. Domino’s denies this.

The Noid has appeared many times in popular culture since, and even made a comeback in CGI generated form in a 2021 Domino’s commercial. Here’s hoping they bring this fun fiend back full time!

The Noid makes his limited return in 2021.

Mac Tonight, McDonald’s

In 1986, McDonald’s franchises in Southern California hired ad agency Davis, Johnson, Mogul & Colombatto to create a campaign to encourage slumping dinner sales at their restaurants. The result was “Mac Tonight”, a moon-headed crooner in a suit and sunglasses. Mac Tonight played his piano while singing a tune encouraging adults to visit McDonald’s in the evening hours.

The swinging song was a rendition of “Mack the Knife,” where a play on the title gives Mac Tonight his name. The melody was a famous Bobby Darin rendition from 1959 and the advertisers chose it to appeal to Baby Boomer nostalgia popular in the 80s. Interestingly, the song was originally from a 1928 play called “The Threepenny Opera,” about a serial killer.

It’s quite possible the rest of the mascot gang in McDonald’s Land thought Mac Tonight might have been a nighttime serial killer. He was a little creepy.

Anyhow, as the commercials were quite successful in California, McDonald’s expanded them to the rest of the country in 1987 and several commercials were produced over the next few years. The success of the campaign was measurable as afternoon and evening sales picked up.

The Mac Tonight “Clock Tower” commercial: One among dozens.

Mac Tonight was portrayed by actor and mime artist Doug Jones. Doug Jones is one of those actors you might not immediately know, but you’ve seen a thousand times. You are a fan of Doug Jones, even if you don’t know it. These days, he’s most well known for playing Commander Suru in “Star Trek: Discovery”. Some movie characters include Amphibian Man in “The Sape of Water”, Abe Sapien in the “Hellboy” films, and Fauno in “Pan’s Labyrinth”. This actor is epic, and he got his start playing the moon-headed Mac Tonight.

Great Big Story features Doug Jones: “The Most Famous Actor You’ve Never Seen”

In 1989, the Bobby Darin estate thought the Mac Tonight character took a bit too much inspiration from the late singer and sued McDonald’s for $10 million. As the Mac Tonight ads had effectively run their course anyway, McDonald’s offered little resistance and canned the character after settling with the Darin estate. Have a look at Bobby Darrin’s rendition of “Mack the Knife” and let me know what you think: Inspiration or plagiarism?

Bobby Darin sings “Mack the Knife” on Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show in 1959.

Like the Noid, Mac Tonight has appeared many times since in popular culture. Before the Noid made his limited comeback, a CGI Mac Tonight returned to Southeast Asian markets in 2007, replacing his piano for a saxophone. Here’s hoping old lunar skull expands to the rest of the world soon!

A CGI Mac Tonight letting Singapore know that McDonald’s is open 24 hours.

Gidget, Taco Bell

Known in the late 90s as the "Taco Bell Chihuahua", the little canine actress’s real name was Gidget. Owned by handler Karen McElhatton, Gidget appeared in dozens of hugely popular Taco Bell commercials in which Gidget’s CGI mouth would proclaim in actor Carlos Alazraqui’s voice, "¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!". This catchphrase would become so popular, it entered the common nomenclature of late 90s conversation. Anglophonic people across America would use the Spanish “yo quiero” in place of “I wan’t”.

Yo quiero Pokemon cards! Yo quiero Furby! Yo quiero Tomagatchi! You get the picture.

Other popular catchphrases include, "Drop the chalupa!" and "Viva Gorditas!"

The commercials started in 1997 during a very combative time in fast food advertising. The original dog cast was named Dinky, but the casting director replaced Dinky with Gidget, who was originally going to play a backup role as the doggie girlfriend. It seems Gidget had quite the presence in front of the camera and its reported the crew really loved working with her. She was easy to train and seemed to be made for the screen. Gidget became such a big star that she got a seat on Taco Bell's private jet for an excursion to Manhattan and opened the New York Stock Exchange!

In the first commercial, Gidget (playing a male dog) is love struck seemingly with another dog but proceeds to pass her by to accost a man who is eating Taco Bell.

"¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!"

“Yo quiero Taco Bell” original 1997 commercial.

Dozens of commercials were made after that and Gidget even worked with the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla, in 1998.

Godzilla vs. Gidget, 1998

Alas, many Hispanic and Latin American groups criticized the commercials as insensitive, especially those in which Gidget wore stereotypical garb such as a sombrero or a revolutionary beret. Many groups called for a boycott of Taco Bell. Additionally, two men from Michigan who had been in talks with Taco Bell for a year sued the company for theft of creative work and won $30.1 million with an additional $12 million in interest. Finally, although the Taco Bell Chihuahua campaign was hugely popular, it failed to have the boost in revenue the company was looking for.

Viva Gorditas revolution, 1998

All of these factors lead to the cancelation of the campaign in 2000 and "¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!" was left behind with the 20th century.

Like many of her human counterparts who became hugely popular in their first roles, Gidget was typecast and found it difficult to find work. She had roles in some commercials in the early 2000s, but Gidget’s biggest role was as Reese Witherspoon’s dog Bruiser in “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde”. Gidget retired at 10 years old and spent the next 5 years of her life living as a happy California beach dog.

If you want to know more about Gidget, there’s a whole book about her called, “A Famous Dog's Life: The Story of Gidget, America's Most Beloved Chihuahua”.

Kids Club Gang, Burger King

If you were a child in the 90s, you might remember being part of the Burger King Kids Club at some point. In 1989, Burger King reinstituted its children's meal program, but only in the United States and New Zealand (suck it rest of the world). It was a kind of perks program where kids could sign up and get a membership card, a free meal on their birthday, and a magazine by mail. The club featured a gang of diverse cartoon children, kind of like a Rated G, animated Breakfast Club. Characters included:

Vid Kid: The blonde-haired, blue-eyed cool kid who led the crew. He was obviously EXTREME and TO-THE-MAX, 90s style.

Boomer: The ginger tomboy who’s all about physical fitness, but obviously couldn’t care less about diet.

I.Q.: The undersized, red-headed nerd with glasses that the gang accepts anyway because every group needs a nerd.

Jaws: The African American kid… who’s taller than the others.

Snaps: The artsy blonde who is keen on journalism and takes pictures of everybody and everything.

Wheels: The paraplegic kid who’s named after the device he needs to get around. This is why we call grandma, “Pacemaker”.

J.D.: The dog. He’s not owned by any one member so probably a tagalong stray.

Lingo: The bi-lingo Hispanic kid who teaches the other children Spanish words (probably wholesome ones, unlike in real life).

Jazz: The Asian musician kid who they only added in 1997 because, like Hollywood, BK forgot about Asians.

Burger King Kids Club tv commercial, 1991

Burger King Kids Club Gang characters (less Jazz)

Unlike the other mascots listed so far, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of drama or controversy that caused the demise of the Burger King Kids Club Gang. As the children of the 90s grew up, the group of characters just faded away. In 2005, the gang was replaced by the weird and grotesque Honbatz characters, which was a sure sign of the times and a signal of how strange the 21st century would become.

Vid Kid ditches the gang for a solo appearance with the Ninja Turtles.

The “Honbatz” characters. Icons of the 21st century getting weirder.

Pizza Head, Pizza Hut

It took me a while to remember Pizza Hut’s 90s ad campaign, “The Pizza Head Show”, but now that I’m writing about it, it’s coming back to me. The Pizza Head Show was a spoof of the 1970s Saturday Night Live skit, “The Mr. Bill Show”, starring a piece of pizza named Pizza Head and his nemesis Steve, a pizza cutter who often disguised himself to get at poor Pizza Head.

Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners in an effort to appeal to tweens, the ads were simply written and produced, being entertaining on a budget. Sixteen ads ran from 1991 to 1999 and were directed by Walter Williams who created Mr. Bill for SNL in the 1970s (the first short costing less than $20). He would later refer to Pizza Head as Mr. Bill’s “cousin”. Williams also produced a number of Mr. Bill shorts in the 1990s.

I’m surprised there’s never been a crossover.

There should be.

The Pizza Head Show commercial compilation.

There’s not much information as to why the campaign ended, but after 8 years or so, it just probably ran its course. I think The Pizza Head Show are the most entertaining ads on this list. Pizza Head and his rival Steve would get my vote for mascots that deserve a reboot. They wouldn’t even have to update the effects. Just keep the ads cheap and fun. #BringBackPizzaHead

Pizza Head getting stretched

What fired fast food mascot do you think deserves a comeback? Are there other unemployed fast food promotional characters that should be on this list? Let me know in the comments. With that, I leave you with this quote:

“Get fired. No one will call you a quitter.”

— Vikrmn Verma, 10 Alone