No Celebrities Were Harmed / Advertising

• The 1986 Crispy Critters cereal had a mascot named Crispy, whose voice was a caricature of Jimmy Durante, right down to his catchphrase, "Ah-cha-cha-cha!" To push the reference even further, in a book given away with the cereal, "Crispy in No Place Like Home", Crispy says "Ah-cha-cha-cha! You've got to start each day with a song and a good breakfast", a reference to Jimmy Durante's song "You've Got to Start Each Day with a Song".
• An advertising campaign by Virgin Mobile France comes in two flavors, a chihuahua with a strong resemblance to Michael Jackson, saying, "A ce prix-là, I'm back" ("At this price, I'm back"), and a bulldog with an equally strong resemblance to Gérard Depardieu, saying, "A ce prix-là, je rentre en France" ("At this price, I'm going back to France", alluding to his fiscal exile in Russia). See for yourself.
• Toucan Sam, the spokes-character for the cereal Froot Loops, has a voice modeled on the standard impression of Ronald Colman. This was averted with Mel Blanc's, Matthew Curtis' and Colin Cassidy's portrayals however, with Blanc's portrayal having Toucan Sam speak with an normal American accent with Pig Latin, while the latter two (while still giving Toucan Sam an British accent) don't have voices modeled on the standard impression of Ronald Colman unlike Paul Frees' and Maurice LaMarche's portrayals of the character, it was also averted for his Australian voice actors as well as neither of whom emulated Ronald Colman's voice.
• Likewise, Sugar Bear, mascot for Sugar/Golden Crisp cereal, is a composite of Bing Crosby and Dean Martin, right down to the accent in his earlier appearances.
• The voice of McDonaldland character Mayor McCheese was an imitation of Ed Wynn. (The character was also legally determined to be copyright-violatingly derivative of H.R. Pufnstuf.)
• The mascot for Vlasic pickles is a stork clearly based on Groucho Marx, even to the point of substituting holding a pickle for Groucho's trademark cigar.
• The monster cereal mascots take cues from classic horror icons for their voices. Bela Lugosi for Count Chocula, Boris Karloff for Frankenberry and Peter Lorre for Boo Berry.
• Goofy Grape, one of the mascots for the defunct Funny Face drink mix has a voice based on Ed Wynn's. He loses this impression in the animated reboot, however.
• Burger King attempted this in The '80s with Mr. Rodney, a very obvious takeoff of Mr. Rogers. Despite Fred Rogers being a seemingly-chill guy, he had a few Berserk Buttons, and the Mr. Rodney commercials unwittingly pushed all of them: using his likeness without permission, commercialism, and consumption of meat (since he was a steadfast vegetarian). Burger King pulled the ads after Rogers politely asked them to stop.
• Claude the Cat: Though possibly unintentional, Claude sounds very similar to Stephen Fry.
• During the early days of the Wario franchise, a series of commercials depicted the character with a voice strongly reminiscent of Paul Winchell, particularly as Dick Dastardly and Gargamel.
• Cryptoland's main character, Connie, takes many cues from Robin Williams, especially his performance as the Genie.

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