Listen to music by California Raisins on Apple Music. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. The Dancing California Raisins were a go. SW: In the end, the ad went to air. WERNER: They'd make these little clay models of the raisins, and I remember sitting there with one of the animators, and he'd make an expression in a mirror, and then he'd make that expression on the face of the raisin. Blastfrompasttoys. WERNER: 'Dear NBC, After weeks of trying to find out who to congratulate on a recent national ad, I came up with nothing. There were some other big names, like Dole and Del Monte, but they didn't just sell raisins. Deathly silence filled the Board room for what was probably only another thirty seconds, but seemed much longer. California Raisin's Version. The concept was originally created by advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) for a 1986 Sun-Maid commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board when one of the writers, Seth Werner (at the time with FCB in San Francisco) came up with an idea for the new raisin commercial, saying, "We have tried everything but dancing raisins singing 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'" (the 1968 song popularized by Marvin Gaye). I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine baby I know a man ain't supposed to cry But these tears I can't hold inside Losin' you would end my life you see 'Cause you mean that much to me You could have told me yourself That you loved some one else Instead I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine And they were hearing from those ingredient customers that they had an issue with the ads: BK: Some large customers felt they were paying for it. And because they were big companies, not headquartered in the Fresno circle, they were not at the table, and participating in all of this back-and-forth. The classic about a man who finds out his woman is cheating on him was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Logistics aside, there is a hint of the dancing raisins magic in the air again. KALEM BARSERIAN: I've been born, raised here. It also gave the band members individual names and roles: A.C. (vocals), Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (guitar/piano).[7]. AD THREE: Raisins from California. And most of the people spending millions of dollars don't want to know there are two guys sitting in a back room trying to make each other laugh and come up with this stuff, but that is what we did. They were the California Raisins. Thanks to everyone who left us voicemails and shared their memories of the California Raisins in our Facebook group. Sarah tells us what happened next SW: In 1994, a group of raisin packers voted to shut down CALRAB. It had sold more than 500,000 copies. SARAH WYMAN: Charlie, I have to start with a confession. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. Okay? Free shipping for many products! CH: A raisin by any other name would be a dried grape. KB: I'll never forget, he was a handsome guy, had white shoes on, no socks, had an earring in this ear, he had the ghetto blaster up on his shoulders, and he turns it on and it's "Heard It Through the Grapevine.". Sunmaid. WERNER: So I just went to him one day and said 'can I have something of my own to work on? Matthew has observed his fair share of contentious industry meetings. Werner's big idea was going to be a risk, especially without the celebrity spokesperson the client had requested. Sales of raisins themselves increased 20 percent after the first commercial. First aired on September 14, 1986, Werner's idea for a 30-second television commercial introduced audiences to The California Raisins, a group of anthropomorphized raisins with expressive. Umpteen searches though the archives using the terms "California Raisins" and "Hardee's" came up mostly empty, except for . Almost all the packers resented Sunmaid, but not all for the same reasons. Dancing Raisins Heard It Through the Grapevine. SPEAKER TEN: We had the Christmas special on videotape, we probably watched it like three or four times a December, between when I was like 4 and 8. And on top of everything else, he says there's one subject of conversation that just won't drop. They grow grapes in the beautiful California sunshine and turn them into raisins. AD ONE: Lay some happiness on me, give me raisins and I'll be. SW: When the Dancing Raisins ad stopped airing, Sunmaid's share of direct raisin saleslike in boxes on grocery store shelvesactually increased. But back in 1986, going viral was not yet a thing. We may receive commission if your application for credit is successful, the commission does not affect the amount you will pay under your agreement. KB: Raisin processor for many years in different facilities. SW: I was not even alive when most of those ads aired, and I had the same experience. In The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", The California Raisins were spoofed as The California Prunes, on a special entitled Christmas with the California Prunes. He just wanted to make an ad he thought was cool. [22], Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 23:33, "TV Review; 'Claymation Christmas,' On CBS", "On View: A Feat of Clay: The Creator of California Raisins Molds an Animated Easter Special", "Stardom Is Feat Of Clay For California Raisins", "Bad 25: Spike Lee Brings Michael Jackson Back to Thrilling Life", "The California Raisins for Commodore 64 (1988)", "California Raisin Raisin Puppets: Late 80s - Early 90s", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas", "Celebrating Every '80s Reference in That RadioShack Super Bowl Commercial", "California Raisins Set for Comeback in Live-Action Feature", Official Will Vinton (LAIKA) Studios Site, The Clay and Stop-Motion Animation How-To Page: "California Raisin Raisin Puppets: Late 80s - Early 90s", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_California_Raisins&oldid=1140822520, "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" b/w "I Got You (I Feel Good)" - 1988, Purple Vinyl 7", "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" - 1988 (single, extended peaked at #84 on the, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 23:33. CEO of the wine bargaining association for five years. Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. But that little piece of fruit is anything but dry and boring. Heard it! CH: So where did this journey for you begin? album - including song video, artist biography, translations and more: I bet you're wonderin' how I knew 'Bout your plans to make me blue With some other guy you knew before Between the (of Suite D2 Josephs Well, Hanover Walk, Leeds LS3 1AB) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (with firm reference number 626349). African American History Curatorial Collective. Claymation was an unproven conceptthis was probably the first time it had been used in a commercial. And that is something producer that producer Sarah Wyman has made very clear to me since she began digging into the orgins of the California dancing raisins ad. Oh! While the vines may feel special to their growerslike children!to you and me? The California Raisins merchandising snowballed into 300 different products, including clothing, bed sheets, Halloween costumes, car accessories, lunch boxes, and even toilet paper. You don't, right? SW: That's another thing that makes the raisin industry different. Music is from Audio Network. And call them nature's candy. The California Raisins released four studio albums in 1987 and 1988, and their trademark, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was on the Billboard Hot 100. MICHAEL BRUNSFELD: The first step in this was we need somebody to create some raisins that are going to dance around. They needed to be the life of the snack bar. BK: You gotta have consensus. And the California raisin industry is, after all, a big family. SW: This is Seth Werner. Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. Somewhere, some afternoon, Noel Gallagher sat down with a guitar and did a little strumming and made up a few words to go with it. You know, what kind of legs does he have so he could do a dance appropriately, does he have oversized shoes, you know, what do they look like? Everyone is hungering for unity again, they just have to find something to unify around. Price: 16.01. And on top of that, there have been many, many more lawsuits. Dancing Raisins "Heard It Through the Grapevine". Commissioned by the California Raisin Advisory Board (CALRAB), a trade group of raisin producers in Californias Central Valley, the commercial was part of a multi-million dollar campaign to combat slowing raisin sales. People loved the singing, dancing Claymation raisins so much that more commercials followed, andin a marketing scheme that was virtually unheard of at the timeThe California Raisins went on to release four albums, score a Billboard Hot 100 hit, and earn an Emmy nomination (and appear in an Emmy-winning show). They weren't in the shelf. A California Raisins Fan Club began in 1987, which included a Grapevine Gazette newsletter and various memorabilia. When Seth Werner, a 31-year-old copywriter at the ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding, walked into the pitch meeting, he knew he had to put on a show. Little disagreements surfaced. Yeah the good news is the industry is at a point where people are working together more than they have historically, at least in the past 20 years or so. As for the music, the commercial featured Buddy Miles, a Carlos Santana collaborator and drummer for Jimi Hendrix, singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"picked because of the obvious connection between grapes and raisins, but also because the song had seen a resurgence after the Marvin Gaye version had been used for the opening scene of the 1983 hit movie The Big Chill. SW: For the packers who did have their own brands and worried Sunmaid was running away with raisin sales, there was another issue. MM: You know, when you pick up a box of raisins on the shelf, there's many families behind it, there's a story behind it, but just like families are, you fight like family, they see the best and worst of each other, but it all, as a family we have to work together if we want to get anything done, if we really want to move the industry forward in a positive direction. Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? From a pop culture standpoint, absolutelypeople all over the world have heard of the Dancing Raisins. Today, the story of the California Dancing Raisins. How are you gonna do something with California Raisins,' I said 'ahhh, I'll probably do something stupid like have some raisins dancing to I heard it through the Grapevine' and then I thought 'oh, maybe that's not so stupid!'. Bill Moss is our sound engineer. SPEAKER TWELVE: And it was all claymation, and they'd sing Christmas carols and stuff there were I think other characters and things in it as well. The ad was fun, but, to quote The Fruits of Their Labors again, it "made no effort to sell raisins. CH: A warship, the USS Pyro, even asked permission to sail with a California Dancing Raisins flag flying high above ahoy mateys! Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. SW: Remember, these were Fresno guys, not big city ad men. SW: Barry Kriebel became President of Sunmaid Raisins in February of 1986, one year before Ross Vannelli produced his album, and right as the California Raisins were in liftoff. Which wasn't true. Werner and his copywriting partner, Dexter Fedor, knew that they needed to make the dried fruit less of an afterthoughtthe raisins needed personality. Now, somebody just had to turn Seth Werner's concept into a real commercial. SPEAKER ONE: It was like a Mr. Oh, that's sweet. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. ', 'Today during Ryan's Hope I saw the cutest commercial. So, just like at Thanksgiving dinner, while CALRAB tried to calm everyone down and broker peace from the head of the table, squabbling raisin packers aired old grudges and argued about who was and was not getting their fair share of the cash. And so he says, 'Ok fine. In 1985, he was a copywriter at the ad agency Foote, Cone, and Belding. But thanks to the California Raisins, its now commonplace to see ads that include anthropomorphized food or candy. The tape was rewound and the presentation repeated.". California RaisinsSing The Hit Songs 1987 Priority Records, LLCReleased on: 1987-01-01Associated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Leslie SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard MccraryAssociated Performer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Co- Arranger: Ed GrengaAssociated Performer, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar: Pat KellyAssociated Performer, Bass Guitar: Dave MarottaAssociated Performer, Drums, Percussion: David StefanelliAssociated Performer, Saxophones: David WoodfordProducer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Ross VannelliAssociated Performer, Vocalist: Buddy MilesComposer Lyricist: Barrett StrongComposer Lyricist: Norman WhitfieldAuto-generated by YouTube. SW: Within a month of its release, the album went gold. 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