Richmond Times - Dispatch
Penguins must be flying high. People are flocking to see them on the big screen, they star in ads all over the little screen and they're splashed across advertising circulars and packaging for a scad of products.
Emperor penguins are hawking batteries in commercials with Duracell-powered "penguin cams" strapped to their backs, and, in a Capital One TV spot, they surround a shivering couple vacationing in Antarctica because their credit-card miles program blacked out flights to warm resort locales.
Penguins also are strutting on packaging for Minute Maid lemonade, Entenmann's gingerbread cookies and more; and on Web site banners, such as at the Mystery Guild book club.
Coca-Cola has resurrected its ad showing penguins making friends with polar bears (never mind that they live in different hemispheres) by offering them a Coke.
According to ad monitors TNS Media Intelligence, penguins also are in ads for two vehicles, the Jeep Commander and Honda Element, plus Canon cameras, Credit Union One, Creekside Fitness & Health Center, Kids Cuisine Frozen Dinners, Whirlpool washers, Starbucks iced coffee and Dawn dish soap - showing real penguins being cleaned with it after an oil slick.
What's behind all this?
In large part, the Nov. 17 launch of "Happy Feet," the animated movie that was No. 1 at the box office for three straight weeks.
There's also lingering penguin popularity from last year's Academy Award-winning documentary "March of the Penguins," and the animated "Madagascar" movie, which featured four penguins.
"It's the year of the penguin," said Eric Bennett, owner of penguin-place.com, who has been selling penguin clothing, housewares, toys and other merchandise since 1985. "Now there's probably 50 to 75 percent more penguins endorsing products" than five years ago.
Bennett, who's been slipping a pack of "Happy Feet" gummi penguins in each order he ships, said retailers are reacting to the success of the penguin movies and jumping on the bandwagon.
"Happy Feet" has a large roster of licensees, or promotional partners running ads featuring movie scenes to promote their business, according to Andrea Marozas, spokeswoman for Warner Bros., the movie's distributor.
Several companies have promotions enticing potential customers with contests.
Cable TV giant Comcast Corp. has been running at least three ads tied into "Happy Feet" promoting its combined cable, phone and Internet package. Its on-demand service offers a variety of "Happy Feet" content.
Several penguin logos and characters have been around for years, from those on Penguin Books and Munsingwear clothing to the Linux computer operating system penguin and Opus, the loony comic strip character formerly of "Bloom County."
The oldest penguin character likely is Willie, the Kool cigarettes mascot dating to the early 1930s, when Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co. began selling menthol cigarettes. It ran print ads showing penguins smoking, and looking cool, while skating or floating around a pack of Kools.
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO
MEMO: BIZ TO GO
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