Energizer Bunny


The Energizer Bunny is the marketing icon and mascot of Energizer batteries in the United States and Canada. It is a pink mechanical toy rabbit wearing sunglasses and blue and black striped flip-flops that beats a bass drum bearing the Energizer logo.

History

The Energizer Bunny was first created as a parody of the Duracell Bunny, which first appeared in television advertising in 1973, in its "Drumming Bunny" commercial. Duracell had purportedly trademarked the drumming bunny character, but whether they had or not, said trademark had lapsed by 1988, providing Energizer an opening to create their own trademark.
The first Energizer Bunny commercial was broadcast on United States television on. Produced by DDB Needham Worldwide, the spot began as a direct parody of Duracell's "Drumming Bunny" ad. In the original Duracell ads, a set of battery-powered drum-playing toy rabbits gradually slow to a halt until only the toy powered by a Duracell copper-top battery remains active. In Energizer's parody, the Energizer Bunny enters the screen midway through the ad, beating a huge bass drum and swinging a mallet over his head. The Energizer Bunny is promoted as being able to continue operating indefinitely, or at least much longer than similar toys using rival brands' batteries. The criticism was that Duracell compared their batteries with carbon-zinc batteries, and not similar alkaline batteries like Energizer. The creative team at D.D.B. Chicago who conceived and designed the bunny chose All Effects special effects company to build the original Energizer Bunny, a remote-controlled prop. All Effects operated the Energizer Bunny in most of its first commercials.
Commercials after the first started out with the Bunny leaving the studio it performed the "Drumming Bunny" ad in, then wandering into the sets of a couple of realistic-looking commercials for fictional products, interrupting them. As the campaign progressed, many of these ads were standalone and even a few featured celebrities only to have the Bunny march through, beating his drum, because he was "still going". Eventually real-life products and icons would do a crossover with the Energizer Bunny. The Energizer Bunny has appeared in more than 115 television commercials. In these commercials, a voice-over would announce one of various slogans used throughout the years; all of them would relate the stalwartness of the Energizer Bunny to the long-lasting power of their batteries. The original slogan boasted that "...othing outlasts the Energizer...", but it was eventually changed after a lawsuit filed by Duracell disputing Energizer's claim. Those commercials with the bunny interrupting all the action in a commercial were eventually spoofed in the 1993 film Hot Shots! Part Deux, featuring a blue animal drumming through instead of the pink bunny. The two people fighting then used their guns to shoot the blue animal, causing the blue animal to explode.

1990s

Advertisements for Energizer featuring the Energizer Bunny through the 1990s were done by a variety of companies, including Industrial Light & Magic, Cafe FX and Method Studios. Eric Allard's All Effects Company however did the bulk of the live action Energizer Bunny building, maintanance and puppeteering with ILM taking over for later commercials.
In 1993 through 1995, Energizer ran a series of commercials featuring a fake rival battery called "Supervolt" including a Supervolt weasel mascot, which was an obvious lookalike of Duracell. As Supervolt's battery sales have gone low, the company's CEO seeks to neutralize the Energizer Bunny by targeting its battery. In order to do this. Supervolt's CEO goes in the process of finding individuals who can assist them.
In many of the associated commercials that followed, villains such as Darth Vader, the Wicked Witch of the West, Wile E. Coyote, and Boris and Natasha, as well as a robotic flea, would try to destroy or capture the Bunny only to see complications arise when their devices using Supervolt batteries ran out or other circumstances allowed for the mascot's escape. In addition, a flock of vultures and a foxhunt would get exhausted trying to catch the Energizer Bunny and the Grim Reaper gave up waiting for the Energizer Bunny to come with him.
The second one showed the quality of the product being advertised when it created complications for the villain-so as not to boast that Energizer was better than any other brand, as well as to encourage people to buy Energizer batteries for their smoke detectors.

2016

In September 2016, Energizer switched their advertising agency to Camp+King and introduced a new more expressive bunny who is slimmer and has more facial expression. The bunny will keep the signature drum, flip flops, and dark sunglasses, but the pink fur will be more realistic.

Campaign success

Despite the immense popularity of the campaign, sales of Energizer batteries actually went down during the years that the ads ran. Duracell claimed that 40 percent of its customers thought the campaign was promoting Duracell, not Energizer, but provided no evidence. Speculation has it that TV watchers still associated pink bunnies with Duracell, so the Energizer ads were actually helping their competitor's sales rather than their own.

In popular culture

In North America the term "Energizer Bunny" has entered the vernacular as a term for anything that continues endlessly, or someone that has immense stamina. In Europe and Australia the term "Duracell Bunny" has a similar connotation. Several U.S. presidential candidates have compared themselves to the bunny, including President George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Howard Dean in 2004.
In 1992, the company PC Dynamics created a Screen Saver for Windows 3.x featuring Energizer Bunny with audio clips from the commercials.
During the ninth season of Roseanne, the lyrics sung by Blues Traveler lead singer John Popper begin with: "If what doesn't kill us is making us stronger, we're gonna last longer/Than that greatest wall in China, or that rabbit with the drum."
Energizer was the corporate sponsor of Star Tours at Disneyland Park and Disney's Hollywood Studios for several years; the bunny appeared in several ride-themed advertisements around the show's exit.
In 2006, an Energizer Bunny balloonicle debuted in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and appeared until 2011.
For several years, comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham had a recurring joke about the Energizer Bunny. His "grumpy old man" puppet Walter would ask about commercials interrupting their broadcast, citing the Bunny as a particularly annoying example. The joke would often end with Walter saying, "I'd like to trap his furry little ass...hook him up to a Sears DieHard."
In the MAD sketch HOPS, E.B fooled the cop into catching the Energizer Bunny.

Legal challenges

1990 Duracell trademark dispute

When Energizer's 1988 parody became an advertising success and Energizer trademarked its bunny, Duracell decided to revive the Duracell Bunny campaign and filed for a new United States trademark of its own, referencing the original use of the character more than a decade earlier. The resulting dispute resulted in a confidential out of court settlement, where Energizer took exclusive trademark rights in the United States and Canada, and Duracell took exclusive rights in all other places in the world.

1991 Adolph Coors lawsuit

In 1991, Energizer Holdings unsuccessfully sued the Adolph Coors Company for copyright infringement for creating a parody of its Energizer bunny ads.
The advertisement had comedian Leslie Nielsen banging a bass drum while wearing rabbit ears while the announcer said "It keeps growing and growing!" The court eventually sided with Coors noting the obvious facts that the content of the ad is substantially different considering Nielsen was not a toy and he did not run on batteries.

2016 Duracell distribution lawsuit

In February 2016, Energizer filed a trademark infringement and contract violation lawsuit against Duracell. Energizer alleged that Duracell was using a pink bunny in its advertising in the United States, did not have any trademark rights in the United States in a pink bunny, and had violated an agreement between Energizer and Duracell governing the use of a pink bunny trademark in the U.S. Duracell replied that the cases Energizer cited came from overseas distributors importing packages from abroad, and that Duracell did not have the specific power to stop those distributors from doing so. In November 2017, a United States District court judge threw out most of Energizer's claims in a summary judgement, but leaving the breach of the 1992 territorial contract dispute active with respect to the two companies' bunny trademarks.