Dinks and Coinkydinks
It's strange how life can frequently, as Ned Flanders memorably described it, "put the dink in coinkydink".
During a recent(ish) post on the contents of my 1986 "Letts Boy's Diary" (the one with the fetching vector-graphic design), I described the opening of my first bank account as follows:
The appeal of Ulster Bank lay not in their generous interest rates etc., but rather in the 'free' Henry the Hippo money boxes given to all virgin account holders. Henry was plastic, generously-proportioned, and (as noted elsewhere in my diary) perfectly weighted to allow him to be spun furiously (break dancing style).
Now having not seen sight nor sound of said Mr. Hippo for many, many years I assumed that his marketing relationship with Ulster Bank had long since ended (perhaps acrimoniously). It was with reasonably goggly eyes and somewhat raised brows, then, that I greeted the sight of the bould Henry proudly taking center stage on this year's University of Limerick Rag Week poster (he's on the official hoodie too). Here he is wearing shades and attempting to look cool (no mean feat for a hippo):
Though the poster mentions Ulster Bank (the sponsor of the week's festivities) Henry is not named. His appearance, then, can either be put down to a bank's attempt to revive a long-dormant mascot, or (simply) a knowing nod and a wink from a nostaliga-minded designer.
I've always had a certain fondness for failed, forgotten or discontinued advertising characters. For every slick and successful product of ad-men/women's imaginations there are countless banjaxed, bonkers and (occasionally) disturbing equivalents who’ve been cruelly axed by heartless companies. In idle moments I imagine these discarded ones playing snap and drinking Ovaltine in an advertising mascot retirement home – bitching about the "fancy dans" who've replaced them and telling tales of better, happier days.
Being lame and rubbish does not, of course, necessarily condemn a character to such a fate. Take Fido Dido for example. Has there ever been a lamer, uncooler representative of Euro-naffness? I doubt it. Yet not only does he persist, he thrives. Perhaps he has (somewhere in the 7-Up upper-echelons) a powerful and influential backer. What else could explain his perplexing resilience?
My empathy for advertising's cast-offs has actually led me to seek out and collect old-school McDonald's merchandise. I know, I know…McD's are corporate devil monkeys and all that, but their McDonaldland characters were undeniably cool. I've spoken of my charity-shop-scouring activities before, but didn't mention that most of these excursions were motivated by a love of Officer Big Mac, The Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese et al. I should add that I only ever acquired said figures through charity shops, so Ronald McDonald himself (actual CEO of the company believe it or not) never saw a penny/cent of my money. I may be a collector of tat, but my purchasing policies have been reasonably non-evil.
Pride of place in my collection is the figure pictured at the top of this post – a 1988 gem based on the redoubtable (though now unemployed) Officer Big Mac. There are so many elements to savour and enjoy: The 1920s, silent movie cop outfit; the (manic) "half unbridled joy/half nervous breakdown" expression; the folly of a 'man' with non-moveable arms being put in charge of a vehicle lacking a steering wheel. Solid gold.
You can't but admire someone who's risen to a position of influence despite being born with the notable handicap of a hamburger for a head. Think of the merciless bullying. Think of the relentless pecking of hungry birds. It's no joke…yet he manages to smile (or at least grimace) through it all. A credit to the force.
[tags]Henry Hippo, Mayor McCheese, Officer BigMac, Ned Flanders. Fido Dido[/tags]
March 7, 2007
6 responses to Dinks and Coinkydinks
Great post!! You made me remember my blue Henry which was the coolest thing ever.I think I still have 1 pound in some old ulster bank account somewhere. In a similar vein, what happened to the cool wheetabix gang?? Stickers, TV ads etc?? I miss them
Fantastic stuff. Your idea of has-been characters sitting around bitching about the newbies made me laugh.
Thanks Dave. I can’t find any pics online of the Henry Hippo money boxes. They were the main give-away goodies as far as I recall. Were there other promotional items? Wasn’t there a comic book of some kind?
I’m adding all of these to my 80s Irish ephemera wish-list (along with the Burgerland glasses). Surely someone out there can donate such items to the fustar.org museum of pre-celtic tigger antiquities?
Cheers Colm. Part of the charm of the old-skool guys/gals is how haphazard they seem to be. There’s a certain committee slickness to many of today’s icons that make them hard to warm to.
Too cynical, too extreme sporty, too Pepsi Maxy, too Poochie-esque.
I work in Ulster Bank Henry Hippo was dumped many years ago for a new kiddies account (“UR First”). Ulster Bank sponsors university of Limerick probably as we just opened a branch there – the rag hippo is a “coinkydink”
DK,
I love your blunt, unsentimental description:
You’ve actually made me feel more than a little sorry for ‘him’. I have visions of all the HH merchandise being chucked into a skip…or burnt.
I get the impression that most of the Rag-enjoying students probably don’t even know who the Hippo is actually supposed to be. I haven’t done a poll or any vox pops, it’s just a hunch. Maybe I should though…