The California Raisins


The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. The California Raisins were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.

Origin and success

The concept was originally created for a 1986 Sun-Maid commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board when one of the writers, Seth Werner 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'". To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, paving the way for several future commercials and opportunities through other media. The commercials were produced by Vinton Studios using their claymation technique, with character designs by Michael Brunsfeld. The following year, the Raisins appeared in the Emmy Award-winning A Claymation Christmas Celebration, singing the Christmas carol "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".
The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records between 1987 and 1988, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the Raisins would continue to make their strongest impression through animated endeavors, and the characters proved popular enough that they were used to endorse Post Raisin Bran cereal.
On November 4, 1988, CBS aired a primetime television special called Meet the Raisins! The musical mockumentary was again created by Vinton Studios, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. It also gave the band members individual names and roles: A.C., Beebop, Stretch, and Red.
A Saturday morning cartoon series, The California Raisin Show, debuted the following year, but lasted only 13 episodes. While cel animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, it maintained Will Vinton's creative direction. A sequel to the original CBS special aired in 1990 under the title The Raisins: Sold Out! - The California Raisins II. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback.

Merchandise

Many of the items created for the campaign have become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Merchandise sales included toys and Raisins images on nearly every conceivable medium: lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, and even a Halloween costume, just to name a few. A California Raisins Fan Club began in 1987, which included a Grapevine Gazette newsletter and various memorabilia. Blackthorne Publishing also released a six-issue comic book series entitled The California Raisins 3-D which included 3D glasses; these would later be re-released in the Ultimate Collection trade paperback.
Several California Raisins music albums were also released, featuring classic Motown and rock standards. These albums were included in the Smithsonian collection and were illustrated and art-directed by Helane Freeman, who later became famous for her work on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, among other Disney programs.
Perhaps the most memorable piece of California Raisins merchandise, however, came in the form of small, non-poseable California Raisins figures. The Hardee's restaurant chain offered these as part of a promotion for their Cinnamon 'N' Raisin biscuits. Different collections were produced in 1987, 1988, 1991, and finally in 2001 for their new stylization. This latest incarnation can still be seen on the California Raisin Marketing Board website.
In the early 1990s, Capcom produced a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System titled , in which the player controlled a California Raisin through five side-scrolling levels battling various evil fruit and vegetable characters that have stolen the Raisins' music. The game was completed and several video game critics reviewed it, but it was never released on the open market.
Box Office Software produced a different, unrelated California Raisins computer game in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and PC compatibles. The plot of the game involved Tiny Goodbite having to rescue his friends who have been kidnapped and held in a cereal factory.

Decline

Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. CALRAB, the organization who made the campaign, was also closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization.

Post-popularity and legacy

On March 28, 1997 Entertainment Weekly published "The 50 Best Commercials of All Time" as its cover story. The article ranked The California Raisins' premiere advertisement, "Lunchbox", at #15 with comments by ad agency executive Claude Jacques and described the Raisins as "The coolest wrinkled musicians this side of the Stones."
The vast amount of California Raisins merchandise has made for a substantial collectors' market. It even led to an unauthorized collectibles guide published in 1998, cataloging the many items based on the clay characters.
In 2002, the Food Network program Unwrapped featured a segment on The California Raisins featuring interviews with Will Vinton, David Altschul, and Mark Gustafson of Vinton Studios. Concept illustrations of the Raisins were also featured as interviewees discussed the characters' creation.
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.
An article published by AnimateClay.com in the late 2000s details the whereabouts of the original claymation sculptures used by Vinton Studios. The figures were kept in a box for several years and headed for the trash before being obtained by Webster Colcord, a former employee of Vinton. Several photos were taken providing a close look at the Raisins' internal armatures and detailing their extremely poor condition, including the absence of the A.C. puppet's head.
As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. This figure is also included on .
In 2010, claymation versions of the California Raisins were featured in the special Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "A Very Sunny Christmas".
In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called".
In 2017, an episode of The Simpsons called "The Cad and the Hat" included a couch gag segment featuring the California Raisins being killed by Homer.
In 2018, an episode of The Americans called "Rififi" feature a cereal box featuring the California Raisins on the back.

Planned film

In 2015, it was announced that a live-action/CGI reboot of the California Raisins would be produced, with president of The Actors Hall of Fame Foundation, Rusty Citron, as one of the people behind the project.

Discography