Some commercials you don’t just remember — you can still hear them. The Jolly Green Giant made vegetables feel bigger than life with that booming “Ho Ho Ho!”
The Green Giant character first appeared in advertising in 1928, but he wasn’t always the friendly leafy giant we remember. In 1935, ad man Leo Burnett helped reshape him into the smiling Jolly Green Giant.
The TV version most of us remember really took off around 1961, when “Ho Ho Ho” became his signature line and “Good Things from the Garden” became part of the campaign. The deep voice belonged to Len Dresslar, a Chicago singer whose laugh became one of the most famous sounds in advertising.
The Giant later got a young helper, Little Green Sprout, in the early 1970s. The campaign faded in and out over the years, but it never really disappeared. Even if he wasn’t always in the commercials, he stayed right there on the package.
Ho Ho Ho… Green Giant!