Kool-Aid Man is the mascot for Kool-Aid, a popular drink. The character has appeared on television and print advertising as a fun-loving character, appearing to children and sharing his Kool-Aid beverage, as well as his catchphrase "Oh yeah!" He is a gigantic anthropomorphic pitcher, filled with Tropical Punch Kool-Aid and marked with a fingerpainted smiley face. In 2009, the Kool-Aid Man celebrated his 34th birthday.
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Before he was officially the Kool-Aid Man in 1975, he was the “Pitcher Man”. The Pitcher Man was created in 1954 by Marvin Plotts, an art director for a New York-based advertising agency. General Foods had just purchased Kool-Aid from the drink’s creator Edwin Perkins the year before, and Plotts was charged with drafting a concept to illustrate the copy message: “A 5-cent package makes two quarts. " Working from his Chicago home on a cold day, Potts watched as his young son traced smiley face patterns on a frosty windowpane," recounts Sue Uerling, marketing and communications director for Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History. This inspired Marvin Plotts to create a beaming glass pitcher filled with flavorful drink: the Pitcher Man. From there on the joyful pitcher was on all the Kool-Aid’s advertisements. the voice of the man is John Fickley.
In 1975 Kraft Foods created the character’s first costume with arms and legs. He also became more of an action figure in commercials — performing extreme sports and busting through brick walls. Kool-Aid Man is famously known for shouting, “Oh, Yeah!” as he is summoned by thirsty children with the phrase, "Hey, Kool-Aid!". Commercials of the era also featured a catchy jingle, always ending with the Kool-Aid Man's phrase.
Starting in the late 1980s, the character was given dialogue, and his mouth would be digitally manipulated to "move" while the voice actor talked. Sometime in the 1990s, the live-action character was retired; from that point until 2008, the character became entirely computer-generated (although other characters -- such as the kids -- remained live-action). In 2000, a new series of commercials were created for Kool-Aid Fierce and the actor chosen to play Kool-Aid Man was Jon Carr. The most recent Kool-Aid commercials feature a new and different live-action Kool-Aid Man playing street basketball and battling "Cola" to stay balanced on a log.
Hastings Museum in Hastings, Nebraska, which opened the first permanent Kool-Aid exhibit in 2002, has Kool-Aid Man’s original costume on display. Made of fiberglass, the costume featured a more prominent face, skinnier body and no clothing. Now, he is made of inflatable nylon and is dressed in a shirt, jeans and shoes.
Kool-Aid Man was the subject of two Kool-Aid man video games for the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision systems. He was also given his own short-lived comic book series, The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man, in the early-to-mid-1980s by Marvel Comics.
Briefly in 2002 the Kool-Aid man was played by Brandon Tate as new commercials were created but were soon discontinued
The Kool-Aid Man character is used as a running gag on the American animated cartoons Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and has been parodied several times on Robot Chicken. In Family Guy he appears occasionally when everyone says "Oh-no" where he will burst through the wall with a jar of Kool-Aid and say "Oh-Yeah" before walking out the hole he came in. In one point in the series, the judge asks everyone to stop saying "Oh No" in the courtroom saying that "the (bleep)'n Kool-Aid Man will keep showing up". He appears in one episode at home (Peterotica), where a man drives through his wall and notices how annoying it is, he fixes it later just to have someone else drive through it, much to his anger. There is a "Youtube" video called "Kool Aid Killer", about the Kool Aid Man killing anyone who doesn't drink Kool Aid. The Kool-Aid Man, along with shock site Lemonparty.org, was also parodied in a sketch from Talkshow with Spike Feresten, in which an anthropomorphic lemon named Lemonparty serves a lemon-flavored soft drink to elderly men in a retirement home, causing them to take off their clothes and exhibit homoerotic behavior.
Kool-Aid Man | Table of Contents
| Walkthrough
| Kool-Aid Man | |
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| Developer(s) | Mattel |
| Publisher(s) | Mattel |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| System(s) | Atari 2600, Intellivision |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Kool-Aid Man is an Atari 2600 video game based upon the television commercial character Kool-Aid Man. A second, unique video game cartridge was also made for the Intellivision.
The premise of the game is that the so-called "Thirsties" want a drink, and the player must not bump into them when they begin to drink out of the pool, in order to repel them (thus preventing them from draining the contents of the pool). If the player touches a Thirstie who is not drinking from the pool, he will be bounced away. In order to complete a given stage, the player needs to quench the thirst of about 30 Thirsties. The player loses either by running out of time, or by running out of pool water. Quenching 30 Thirsties takes the player to a faster stage. The pool is technically a "life bar" for Kool-Aid Man. The party's over if the pool is drained, and that is exactly what the Thirsties want; the pool's water.
 Intellivision cover art. |
 Overlay for the Intellivision. |
Kool-Aid Man/Table of Contents
| Kool-Aid Man | |
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| Developer(s) | Mattel |
| Publisher(s) | Mattel |
| Designer(s) | Steve Tatsumi |
| Release date | Intellivision: 1983 (NA) Atari 2600: 1983 (NA) |
| Genre | Maze |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | N/A Atari 2600 Intellivision |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 Intellivision |
| Input | Atari 2600 Joystick Intellivision Controller |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Kool-Aid Man is a game released for the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision. It was created as a promotional piece for Kool-Aid drink products.
All that is required of the player in Kool-Aid Man is to move. The Thirsties want a drink and the player has to bump into them when they go to drink out of your pool. If the player touches a Thirstie whom is not drinking your pool, he will be bounced away. So to win, the player needs to give drink to about 30 Thirsties. The player loses by running out of time OR running out of pool. Getting 30 Thirsties takes the player to a faster stage. The pool is technically a lifebar for Kool-Aid Man. The party's over if the pool is drained, and that is exactly what the Thirsties want: the pool's water.
 Atari 2600 Boxart |
 Intellivision Boxart |
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