Restaurant Mascots Fade Away

More QSRs chains have been ditching their cartoonish characters to help promote a more healthy and upscale image.

July 24, 2013

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Where have all the restaurant mascots gone? You might not have noticed, but many of the brand mascots that used to populate fast food world have slowly disappeared, CNBC reports.

The latest mascot to hit the skids is KFC’s the Colonel, who appears to be on the brink of retirement. This week, KFC rolled out a new concept called KFC eleven that has no image of the Colonel at all. 

Analyst point to the loss of these fast food icons as debris of a larger QSR trend toward more healthy and upscale products and images. While Ronald McDonald still appears in connection with McDonald’s, his role has been downsized a lot, and the other characters that used to be with him — the Hamburglar and Grimace, for example — are long gone. Taco Bell put its Chihuahua spokesdog out to pasture more than a decade ago, while Burger King axed its king character in 2011.

Part of the reason why mascots have lost their cool factor has to do with the increasingly popular fast-casual chains like Baja Fresh and Panera Bread that don’t rely on characters to sell food. “People seem to like that better now,” said Kathy Hayden, who analyzes foodservice trends at Mintel. “People are more serious about food,” and that’s the area marketers focus on.

However, not every fast-food restaurant chain is ditching its mascot. Recently, Wendy’s overhauled the redhead, pig-tailed girl and is still using that image as part of its brand.

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