Toucan Sam is the cartoon toucan mascot for Froot Loopsbreakfast cereal. The character has been featured in advertising since 1963. He exhibits the ability to smell Froot Loops from great distances and invariably locates a concealed bowl of the cereal while intoning, "Follow your nose! It always knows!", sometimes followed by "The flavor of fruit! Wherever it grows!" Another version of this phrase in a string of commercials in the late-2000s presents the character at the end of the commercials saying "Just follow your nose!", followed by a group of children retorting, "For the fruity taste that shows!"
History
Toucan Sam became the mascot for Froot Loops cereal in 1963. The cartoon character was created by Manuel R. Vega and originally voiced by Mel Blanc, using an ordinary American accent. Blanc's original commercials were noted for their use of Pig Latin. The ad agency later decided to switch to the English accent more commonly associated with the character. They then employed Paul Frees to do what is, in effect, an imitation of Ronald Colman. Most recently, Toucan Sam was voiced by Maurice LaMarcheafter the death of Paul Frees. Toucan Sam had a cousin named Arty Artin that was featured in a few commercials. Animation of the commercials were created by several animation companies including Thumbnail Spots; this impacted the character growth among the years. Although his nose originally had two pink stripes, during the 1970s it became a tradition that each stripe on his nose represented one of the flavors of the pieces in the cereal:. The additions of new colors have made this color scheme no longer accurate. There are now eight colors of this cereal. The first new color was green, which was introduced in 1991, then purple in 1994, and blue in 1996. The colors, perhaps, represent different flavors present in the cereal, but each color has the same flavor.
A parody of Toucan Sam can be briefly seen on an episode of T.U.F.F. Puppy as one of the many things the Chameleon can turn into. Another parody was found on Family Guy where Brian auditioned for the mascot's role.
Maya Archaeology Initiative
The Maya Archaeology Initiative is a project of the WorldFree Press Institute. On June 2010, WFPI submitted a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the MAI logo, a profile of a toucan with a Mayan temple in the background, both encircled by yellow/green light. It was published on 15 March 2011. Kellogg's objected on the grounds that the two logos are too similar. That caused a long argument, which ended on 15 November 2011 with an announcement that Kellogg's and the MAI are forming a charitable partnership.
Recent commercials
Since 1994, Toucan Sam has been joined onscreen by his nephews Puey, Susey, and Louis, though they are never actually referred to by name. The nephews are voiced by two notable voiceover artists: Frank Welker and Jim Cummings. In recent commercials, Toucan Sam's three nephews have joined him in opposition to many practical Froot Loop-loving enemies through a series of integrated commercials. The Toucan Sam campaign was produced by Pepper Films, Inc. until 2013, when Kellogg's transitioned the Froot Loops brand to CGI with animation company Nathan Love. Toucan Sam is currently voiced by Maurice LaMarche. In 2020, Toucan Sam was redesigned to a more contemporary design. The new design received mixed reactions, with many detractors noting that actual toucans don't have human-like mouths in real life. The design was also alleged to have several traits from CalArts and Toon Boom Animation.
