Tony the Tiger
Tony the Tiger is the mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. He is a muscular anthropomorphic tiger, wearing a red ascot. Tony originally appeared in 1952, designed by children's book illustrator Martin Provensen and voiced by Dallas McKennon. Tony was the creation of a public survey, in which Tony was one of four candidates for the cover of Frosted Flakes, which included a kangaroo, an elephant and a gnu. After being selected as the new mascot, Thurl Ravenscroft was hired as the voice of Tony and spent the next five decades providing the characteristic deep bass voice associated with the character, notably the familiar "They’re Grrreat!" catchphrase. When Ravenscroft died in 2005, Kellogg's hired former wrestling announcer Lee Marshall, who signed a 10-year contract in 2006 to be the new voice of Tony, though in Britain Tony is voiced by UK-based Californian voiceover Tom Clarke-Hill.
Twitter account and its controversy[edit]
In July 2013, an official account was made for Tony the Tiger on Twitter.[1] In November, 2015, blog website Gawker noted that Tony's account was "plagued by all sorts of lewd and lascivious demands from the furry community".[2] In January 2016, Tony the Tiger began blocking furries from his Twitter account.[3] In response, rival food industry mascot Chester Cheetah tweeted "I welcome all fans to my twitter feed. Scales, feathers, or fur, if you enjoy my tweets then welcome!".[4][5] Patch O'Furr at Dogpatch Press posted a summary of media coverage of what watchers humorously named "TonyTigerGate."[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ Tony the Tiger's profile on Twitter. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Tony the Tiger Can't Tweet Without Furries Begging Him for Sex" - article by Ashley Feinberg on Gawker. Dated November 4, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Tony the Tiger Turns His Back on Twitter’s Horny Furries" - article by Ashley Feinberg on Gawker. Dated January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ↑ Tweet on Chester Cheetah's account on Twitter. Dated January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Chester Cheetah welcomes the sexual advances of furries rejected by Tony the Tiger" - article on Metro. Dated January 28, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ↑ Tonytigergate