It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World III
James Lileks' Orphanage of Cast-Off Mascots features more than 20 marketing mascots once used widely in newspaper and magazine advertisements. The problem, Lileks says, is that when products and companies go away, they leave their mascots behind -- unemployed and orphaned. So he's digging into the microfilm archives of Minneapolis newspapers to unearth mascots such as Mr. Coffee Nerves, the Coughing-Fit Brothers, and Happy Egg. If you're interested, you can even adopt them. While it seems that the site hasn't been updated since early 2001, I hope that Lileks continues his fine work. Email him some encouragement.