Jack Box

Jack Box
The "CEO" of Jack in the Box, Jack Box
First appearance	1994
Created by	Richard Sittig
Portrayed by	Dean Baker (1994–1999) Bob Thompson (1999–2004) John Glenn (2004–2014) David Tompkins (2014–) Peter Sittig (puppet)
Voiced by	Richard Sittig (1994-2015) David Tompkins (2015–) (English) (English) Horacio Mancilla (Spanish)
Information
Aliases	Jack, Jack I. Box
Family	Jim Box (cousin) Joey (cousin) Joey Jr. (nephew)
Spouse(s)	Cricket Box (wife)
Children	Jack, Jr. (son) Jane (daughter) Jake (son)

Jack Box (full name Jack I. Box; or simply known as Jack) is the mascot of American restaurant chain Jack in the Box. In the advertisements, he is the founder, CEO, and ad spokesman for the chain. According to the company's web site, he has the appearance of a typical male, with the exception of his huge spherical white head, blue dot eyes, conical black pointed nose, and a curvilinear red smile. He is most of the time seen wearing his yellow clown cap, and a business suit driving a red Viper convertible.

The company has used the Jack Box mascot in its advertising since 1994 and has won a number of advertising awards for the long campaign.

Prior to 1980, the chain used a huge clown head as its symbol, which sat atop the remote activated talking drive-thru menus (in the 1960s and early '70s the rotating clown head was also at the top of the large signs at each location). In 1980, the chain decided to establish a more "mature" image by introducing a wider variety of menu items and, most notably, discontinuing the use of Jack. A series of television commercials announced "We're blowing up clowns!" and showed the dramatic explosion of the notorious clown heads. These commercials led to many complaints by parents over the violence. Throughout the late 1980s to the 1990s, Jack in the Box tried to position itself as a premium fast food alternative, with varying results.

In 1993, a major food contamination crisis was linked to Jack in the Box restaurants and by 1994, a series of lawsuits and negative publicity took their tolls and pushed their corporate parent, Foodmaker Inc. to the verge of bankruptcy. In the short term, they decided to promote their initiatives on food safety and then approved a new guerilla advertising campaign created by Richard (Dick) Sittig, then working at the TBWA\Chiat\Day ad agency in Santa Monica, California. The concept brought back the original company mascot, Jack, but now in the form of a savvy, no-nonsense businessman who happened to have an enormous round clown head.