Everything To Know About The Fast Food "CEO"

Jack Box, the official Jack in the Box mascot, is the "CEO" of the fast food chain, and he's had quite a fascinating (and dramatic) history.

Summary

• Jack in the Box's mascot, Jack Box, stands out among fast-food chain mascots with his own identity, personality, and position as the "CEO" of the franchise.
• The Jack Box character was briefly discontinued in the 1980s but was brought back in the '90s.
• Jack Box was involved in a memorable social media campaign in 2009, highlighting the brand's modernization efforts and the power of social media in preserving the mascot's legacy.

When it comes to fast-food chain restaurants, there are very few mascots that stand out the way the Jack in the Box mascot does. Founded on February 21st, 1951 by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California, Jack in the Box has become an enormous business with over 2200 locations across the West Coast of the United States. While it is certainly known for the food that it offers like hamburgers, tacos, and chicken tenders, the restaurant chain is best recognized for the Jack Box mascot, which was created alongside the first Jack in the Box in 1951 and today has become synonymous with the business itself.

Unlike other fast-food chain mascots like Ronald McDonald from McDonald's and the Burger King from Burger King, who exist to simply provide a fun, entertaining image for their fast-food brands, Jack Box from Jack in the Box takes it a step further as he is an active character with his own identity, quirks, and even a position at the Jack in the Box company itself. Jack Box isn't just a mascot; he is his own entity that fulfills the same entertaining function that most other fast-food mascots provide but with an extra level of personality and character that is incredibly rare within the fast-food franchise industry.

The Jack In The Box Mascot Is The Fast Food Chain's "CEO"

When the original Jack Box was created in 1951, he was portrayed as a stereotypical-looking clown who came out of a box, a marketing gimmick that could convince hungry drivers to stop and take a quick bite to eat at Jack in the Box. Today, however, his image has completely changed, and he's instead presented as a no-nonsense businessman who wears a suit and tie and has a big spherical white head with blue dot eyes, a cone-shaped nose, a red smile, and a yellow clown cap on his head. However, the suit isn't just for show as he is labeled the "CEO" of the Jack in the Box franchise.

Jack Box presents himself as a congenial yet shrewd businessman who uses his humor to sell new food products at Jack in the Box. Jack Box also has his own company "biography" stating that he was born on May 16 on a cattle ranch in Colorado. He later moved to southern California where he met his wife Cricket, and together they have three kids: Jack Jr., Jane, and Jake. Jack Box graduated from Ball State University, is fluent in English, Spanish, and Chinese, and according to his driver's license, he's 6'8" tall and weighs 195 pounds. He ran for president in 1996, beating Bill Clinton in a Virtual Vote poll.

Jack Box Was Discontinued in 1980 (But Brough Back In The '90s)

However, despite how synonymous the Jack Box mascot has become with the Jack in the Box brand, there was a brief period during the 1980s in which the character was discontinued. Believing that the clown was too childish, the executives at Jack in the Box believed that a more mature image was needed for the fast-food franchise, and released a commercial in which the Jack Box clown head was blown up. The company wanted to further distance itself from the Jack Box character by briefly changing its name to Monterey Jack's, but fortunately, this name change was not popular and the franchise reverted back to its original name (via Mashed).

However, in 1993, Jack in the Box got hit by an E. coli outbreak, and with a string of lawsuits and negative publicity, the fast-food chain's profits and image began to plummet to the point that the business was on the verge of bankruptcy. In a last-ditch attempt to save Jack in the Box, the executives launched a series of advertising campaigns that would promote the company's newfound dedication to food safety. These ads were what ultimately prompted the return of the Jack Box mascot, and it was in these commercials that the character was transformed into the business suit-wearing icon people know and love today.

One of the first and most famous commercials that were produced was an ad in which Jack Box blows up a boardroom of directors seemingly in revenge for blowing him up in the 1980s commercial. Some people criticized this ad for being in poor taste and insensitive to the growing violence and acts of terrorism occurring in the 1990s, but the company executives defended the commercial, stating that it was not only supposed to be over-the-top and humorous but also showcased that the Jack in the Box that was plagued with scandals and health crises is no more and that a new Jack in the Box was here to stay.

In a 2009 Jack in the Box Super Bowl ad, Jack Box gets hit by a bus, resulting in the character's famous ping pong head getting cracked and an ambulance rushing to save him. What was particularly noticeable about this ad is not only that it's part 1 of a 4-part ad campaign featuring Jack taking a trip to the hospital and preventing his company's name from being changed to Phil in the Box, but the ad ended with a link that says HangInThereJack.com. The reason why this is significant is that this particular Jack in the Box commercial was asking viewers to go to a website and "support Jack".

The goal was to announce that the company was planning to replace the old Jack in the Box logo with a more modern version, along with redesigning the Jack in the Box website. While the fast-food franchise accomplished this goal, what was particularly striking about this campaign was how big of a role social media played in it, which in 2009 was uncommon at the time. Around 67,000 people signed up for the HangInThereJack.com website to receive updates on Jack's condition at the hospital, showcasing not only how successful the ad campaign was, but how powerful social media would be in preserving the Jack in the Box mascot's legacy.