The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was created in 1936 by Oscar Mayer’s newphew, Carl G. Mayer. Drivers of the Wienermobile are known as Hotdoggers. Some of the vanity license plates used on the Wienermobile are: YUMMY, OUR DOG, IWSHIWR, OH I WISH, WEENR, WNRMOBL, BOLOGNA, RELSHME, LIL LINK, BIG BUN, WNR MBLE.
I don’t remember when or where I first saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, but it was back in the 1960′s, and back then, it was one of the most unusual vehicles I had ever seen. I would even hazard a guess that it’s still unusual, even by today’s standards. Let’s be real, how often do you see a hot dog shaped car motoring down the street.
The wienermobile was usually seen at public events so they could promote their product name. I’m sure it was pretty effective advertising, because how could you miss a billboard like this! Another form of advertising was to give away promotional swag. You walk up to the wienermobile and the Hotdogger would hand you a whistle, not just any whistle mind you, it was a Wienerwhistle. With this whistle, you could play the unmistakable 4 note Oscar Mayer jingle.
There are currently 7 Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles in existence today, each assigned a part of the country. On occasion, I still see the Wienermobile traveling down the street. Hmm, I wonder if they still have those Wienerwhistles?
Check out wikipedia’s site for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wienermobile
Check out this individuals site for his Wienermobile collection:
http://357.com/chris/wiener/index.html
Promotional swag has been successful in the past, will continue to be successful in the present and you can bet your OscarMeyer Wiener mobile, that it will thrive in the future. People love free stuff especially if it reminds them of their childhood as does the oscarmeyer wiener recorder. It makes them smile and therefore is a great item to promote this log standing part of American culture.