From Scoop:
http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=8633&si=126The California RaisinsAs food icons go, The California Raisins rank pretty high in our American pop culture lexicon--or at least, they used to. The Claymation anthropomorphic fruit group debuted in 1987 as part of an ad campaign for the California Raisin Advisory Board. Copywriters at the San Francisco-based ad agency, Foote, Cone and Belding Agency, created the concept. Famed claymation animator Will Vinton built the quintet, modeling them after Motown groups like The Temptations.
When the California Raisin Advisory Board launched a commercial featuring the group singing what would become their trademark song--a Motown hit--"I Heard It Through the Grapevine," they simply intended to spike the sale of raisins. They had no idea what was to come.
The California Raisins--white-gloved, dress-shoed, and smiling--became the focus of a major merchandising campaign and were used to sell everything from Sun Maid Raisins to Raisin Bran. Vinyl figures in the characters' likenesses were also hot properties during the late '80s, as were vinyl bags, plush toys, watches, figural banks and radios.
The Raisins also appeared in several television specials including CBS' A Claymation Christmas Celebration; Meet the Raisins; and The Raisins: Sold Out. In 1988, a national contest launched to name each raisin, and before long, they were the stars of their own Saturday morning cartoon, The California Raisin Show, which aired from 1989-1990.
The advent of the '90s pretty much ended the Raisins' popularity, and these days, raisin sales have stabilized. But purveyors of popular culture will never forget the proliferation of these purple dancing, singing fruit phenoms--and neither will the collectibles market.
