Car-Toons: Animated Auto Ads through the Years

HAGERTY MEDIA | August 30, 2024

Animated cartoons have been around as long as live-action films, but their widespread use to move auto industry metal took a few decades to fully develop. The first animated cartoon advertising came in the form of the free films that automakers supplied to movie theaters as filler programming between movies, and it migrated to television as soon as sets started showing up in living rooms. Some campaigns were more successful than others, but a few of them stand out and show how the medium evolved over the years.

Chevrolet: Nicky Nome (1937–39)

General Motors was the first to use animated cartoons to promote their cars. Produced by the Jam Handy Organization, a Detroit-based movie studio that made industrial films, they were filmed in Technicolor, an expensive proposition at the time. Working in the fairy tale genre commonly used by movie studios at the time, GM’s series featured a character named Nicky Nome, who possessed little discernable personality. Originally meant to be a series of 12 cartoons, GM pulled the plug after six, although the reason remains unclear.

The somewhat disjointed plot in the above video features Nicky in a kidnapping dust-up between Native Americans and settlers, only to magically bring a ’38 Chevy to the rescue. Written, directed, and animated by a number of New York City-based animators who had worked for Terrytoons, Max Fleisher, and Van Buren Studios, another typical entry is 1937’s “A Ride For Cinderella,” where Cinderella must drive her Chevrolet home by midnight or else she will lose her gown, her car, and Prince Charming.

Ford Motor Company: “It’s a Ford” (1954)

*Frame grab from Ford's "It's a Ford" ad*

Less theatrical and more traditionally ad-like were a series of innovative pieces produced by John Hubley, co-founder of United Productions of America, better known as UPA. UPA revolutionized the look of animated cartoons in the early 1950s, but Hubley’s Communist Party ties led to a loss of theatrical cartoon work by 1952 during the Red Scare. With the growth of television, Hubley and other UPA artists realized that they could produce animation for TV commercials, as they lacked credits. He formed Storyboard Inc., producing the highly-regarded “It’s a Ford” and “Ford Bird” ads. It would be the first of several Ford animated ad campaigns. Hubley would go on to dominate TV advertising, as animated ads proved more memorable than the live ads that were common at the time.

American Motors Corporation:
Disney Partnership (1954–55)

*A mid-century modern Mickey and Minnie riding in their Nash.*

Believe it or not, Nash nabbed none other than Mickey and Minnie Mouse, their two children, and Pluto to hawk the new 1955 Nash Rambler. Mickey and Minnie sport a mid-century modern look created by Disney’s Tom Oreb, one that was never used elsewhere. The Disney ads came about from AMC’s sponsorship of ABC-TV’s “Walt Disney’s Disneyland,” which debuted in October 1954. While Jiminy Cricket also pitched Nash models, while Pinocchio and Donald Duck were later used to sell the Hudson Hornet.

The Disney Studio was under extreme financial pressure given their efforts to develop Disneyland while maintaining cartoon and film production. While neither Walt nor Roy were happy about producing TV ads, it brought in a lot of needed money from 1954 through 1957.

Packard Clipper: Torsion-Level Ride (1956)

Packard Motor Car Company used Hubley’s studio to create a series of ads explaining Packard’s new Torsion-Level Ride suspension system. But Packard was nearing the end of the road, and no amount of engineering, or clever commercials, could save it.

Ford Motor Company: “Thinking Dog” and Peanuts (1959–65)

*Charles Schulz used the Peanuts gang to sell Ford Falcons.*

Bill Melendez, a director at ad company Playhouse Pictures, created a series of “Thinking Dog” ads for Ford Dealers of Southern California. It created so much buzz, Ford’s national agency, J Walter Thompson, picked it up for use nationwide. Melendez, another UPA refugee, would go on to direct Peanuts television commercials for Ford that same year. Company officials wanted to use Charles Schulz’s characters to advertise its new compact car, the 1960 Ford Falcon. As it turns out, Schulz had only driven Fords up to that point, and as long as he could maintain control of how his characters were used, he approved. Produced by Melendez, the Peanuts TV ads would run through 1965, and lead to the first Peanuts TV special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which in turn would make Schulz a household name.

Plymouth: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (1968–80)

*Yup, a cartoon bird helped sell muscle cars.*

As General Motors and Ford were attracting young muscle car buyers, Plymouth’s GTX was struggling. In an effort to shed its staid image, Plymouth needed a name other than Belvedere. The answer came to an executive whose young kids were watching Saturday morning cartoons: Road Runner. Certainly, it was better than their ad agency’s suggestion: LaMancha.

Plymouth obtained the naming rights from Warner Brothers for $50,000, and spent another $10,000 creating the unique beep, beep horn. The ads were directed by Warner Brothers alumni Robert McKimson, not Chuck Jones, who directed the original series. Similarly, Cal Howard, not Michael Maltese, wrote the script. The car went on to sell 44,599 units in its first year and would last through 1980.

Cadillac: Ziggy the Merlette, er, Duck (1997–03)

*Cindy Crawford starred in Cadillac's most notorious ad campaign.*

In an attempt to attract a younger audience for Cadillac and challenge BMW’s 3 Series, GM brought in the Opel Omega, renaming it the Cadillac Catera. Advertising it as “The Caddy that zigs,” D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Cadillac’s ad agency, animated one of the merlettes from the Cadillac crest, endowing him with a big beak and big feet, and naming him Ziggy. The now infamous commercial shows Ziggy and supermodel Cindy Crawford. The ad bombed. Women objected to Crawford’s attire. Dealers hated the cartoon duck.

But the cartoon fowl had an impact. No one forgot him, even if they forgot the car, which was replaced five years later by the 2003 Cadillac CTS. The duck was dead, replaced by a campaign punctuated by Led Zepplin’s “Rock and Roll.”

Honda: Mr. Opportunity (2004–11)

When it came time to clear out old models, Honda devised an animated spokesperson, Mr. Opportunity, and his annoying tagline, “I’m Mr. Opportunity, and I’m knockin’!” The ads lasted seven endless years, and proved irritating enough to spawn the “I Hate Mr. Opportunity!” Facebook page. Eventually, Mr. Opportunity was sent packing, replaced by Former ‘Seinfeld’ actor Patrick Warburton.

“This year, they sent a man in to do a cartoon man’s job,” Warburton says in the first ad.