Rooty in his American version, in a statue photographed at the Wittenberg, Wisconsin location in 1988
Rooty in his Canadian version

The Great Root Bear, known since at least early 2012 as Rooty, is an anthropomorphic brown bear used as the mascot (or "spokesbear"[1]) of both A&W Restaurants in the USA and its operations in Asia, while the Canadian operations use its own version.

Appearance

Rooty's appearance is identical between the two branches.

Common to both versions is the appearance. Rooty is a bipedal brown bear with a tan muzzle, orange hat and an orange sweater with the A&W logo printed on it.[2] The Canadian version has a modified face and a brown muzzle.

Rooty also lacks opposable thumbs in his paws.[1]

History

Creation and early development

While often incorrectly understood as being created in Canada, the concept of the mascot was first conceived in the United States. Up until the early 1970s, the primary mascot of A&W in both the USA and Canada was The Burger Family. A prototype of what would become The Great Root Bear appeared in bags of kids' meals of the American chain in the early 1970s, which would be similar to the later design. Bears were already popular at the time of its creation, with examples including Baloo as portrayed by Disney's then-recent adaptation of The Jungle Book, Disney acquiring the licensing rights to Winnie-the-Pooh and the success of the Hanna-Barbera character Yogi Bear. In 1971, an A&W franchise in Oshkosh had used a completely different costume for the character, tentatively named "Root Bear", who in late April that year had awoken from hibernation and washed the windows of the cars of the customers. Another possible theory behind the creation of the mascot was a panda-like bear for Canada Dry's brand of root beer, Rooti (with a name similar to Rooty) in the 1960s.

By the early 1970s, A&W was losing ground to McDonald's and KFC in both sides. The Canadian operations were sold to Unilever in an attempt to let the chain stay afloat. In 1972, A&W's newly-independent Canadian branch appointed Ron Woodall for a television commercial and a new mascot. The goal was to create a new commercial campaign for A&W without showing food or specific eating habits. If the campaign failed, Unilever would let go of the chain.

Woodall sketched some drawings and headed to Smuggler's Cove, north of Vancouver, to film the first commercial and pitch the concept of the new mascot. This infuriated staff working at A&W, as it had nothing to do with the inner workings of the restaurants, something Woodall preferred to avoid. A focus group was set up in Toronto to gather public opinion, discarding the results of the prior test in Vancouver. A prototype version of what would become the first commercial was played in front of a test audience and worked well enough for Unilever to pitch the commercial. With limited budget, a commercial was shot in Alberta. Edmonton was initially considered, but the rapid development of the city caused a rejection of the filming. The nearby rural areas were full of trafic. Eventually Pincher Creek was selected as the recording location. For the filming, hotels were booked past their closing season, the bear was performed by a ballerina (Katherine) and characters similar to the Marx Brothers, Hulk Hogan and Evel Knievel were selected, following the bear.[3]

International adoption

Before long, The Great Root Bear was adopted by the American A&W chain, as well as the restaurants it operated in Asia.[4][5][6] In the United States alone, the previous A&W mascots, the Burger Family, were phased out beginning in 1973.[7] While canonically according to A&W, Rooty was "born" on June 19, 1974, older press material given to franchisees claim that he was actually "born" in September 1973.[8]

The Great Root Bear was now making widespread public appearances, such as in the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane.

By 1976 the mascot had become successful, with merchandise such as straws featuring the bear were made available. In 1978, the company's newsletter, the A&W News Dispenser, was renamed A&W News Bearer.[9] Balloons in birthday parties hosted at its restaurants were given the name "bearloons" and the straws, "bearstraws".[10]

In Canada

The Great Root Bear, with its own design, continued appearing in television commercials for the separate chain in Canada. During 1997 and 1998, Drew Carey served as a spokesperson for the chain, appearing in TV ads alongside the bear; he was dismissed (with legal action ensuing) after a November 1998 episode of The Drew Carey Show featured Carey eating at a McDonald's location in China.[11] Following the reintroduction of The Burger Family, the bear was phased out from advertising.

Decline and rebound

In 2009, when the bear was downsized from the chain at a national level, the Lodi restaurant registered the awrestaurants Twitter username, which was later used by the national chain within a couple of years. Some posts in the spring of 2009 were "written" by the bear himself (who at the time had no name).

New administration took over A&W in the USA in 2011. Liz Bazner touted the chain as being "criminal" that they weren't using the mascot anymore, while putting him in charge of the Twitter account.[12] A bronze statue of the bear holding a mug was erected at lobby of the new headquarters in Lexington.[13] In March 2012, A&W produced a video showing the bear working at the building at the time of its construction, with disastrous results. Around this time the name Rooty appeared and became official. The following year, in June 2012 (the de facto 93rd anniversary of A&W), Lexington media house uHAPS Media made a video of a faux news item depicting Rooty being taken away from hibernation.

The earliest known usage of Rooty as the name of the mascot, up until then just The Great Root Bear, was on a Facebook post on January 30, 2012, where, in an early instance of A&W using tongue-in-cheek humor related to its resurging mascot, he was signed up for Skype

Sarah Blasi, director of marketing at A&W, relied on the inter-generational appeal of the mascot and its relation with the chain, and its resurgence was part of a wider plan for a fresh start under the new owners.[14] Liz Bazner, who was in charge of the tweets,[15] created a joke where Rooty was "hibernating" before 2012. In January 2013, A&W launched a new website following a new creative marketing agreement with Cornett Integrated Marketing. Executives were working with franchisees in Asia, where the mascot was still prominent, to use the mascot as a part of birthday parties held at restaurants in the United States. Rooty also got a Vine account and a smartphone app, Burping Rooty. Also included was a "bear cam" function on the website that "streamed" Rooty's daily activities.[16] The footage used for the stream was later recycled in 2018 for a video on social media, Day in the Life. Rooty was also the central figure of the first product release on Vine.[17]

In 2013-2014, four episodes of a fictional reality series involving Rooty, The Bear is Back, were released on A&W's YouTube channel, shot in the A&W headquarters.

A CGI version of Rooty was created in 2022 with the aim of being easily rigged for animation and motion capture.

Personality and role at A&W

From the outset, Rooty was meant to be A&W's "ambassador of fun"[9] or "goodwill ambassador"[4] and is, depending on sources, either 6 or 7 feet tall. The chain suggests that Rooty embodies "fun and nostalgia" related to the brand.[12] Rooty is "funny" and "goofy", and was seen as "not polarizing, but loveable".

In two books published in 1990, Rooty was "a fun-loving adventurer" and "a friend to children everywhere", which shows the opposite of his true personality.[18][19] In the construction of the new headquarters in Lexington, Rooty was unable to do some basic tasks

When Rooty came out of hibernation, he had difficulty adapting to newer technologies, but had adapted quickly. Suspicions were also raised that Rooty might have had an addiction to root beer, which is in the contract. Rooty doesn't seem to speak, meaning that he has to rely on writing to communicate, though this contradicts some sources within the chain.

Rooty's family status is not clear, and was heavily retconned. At the entrance of the former A&W restaurant in Petaling Jaya, an illustration of Rooty (seen with a pentagonal hat, akin to the design used by the costume in Malaysia) appears with his supposed wife and two cubs.[20] In the 2009 posts from the Lodi restaurant, Rooty was a father, who had a wife and an unspecified number of cubs.

Controversies

2013 LinkedIn scandal

In early February, 2013, Rooty became the first mascot to have a LinkedIn profile. Users who connected with the mascot received customized, tongue-in-cheek recommendations. Within a week, Rooty's profile received a total of 22 recommendations. The profile wasn't directly promoted, instead it was spread in by word of mouth.[21]

The profile didn't last long, and on February 13, LinkedIn removed the profile, under the grounds that the Rooty wasn't real.[22] A&W released a video protesting the decision.

Reaction to M&Ms' stunt

On January 24, 2023, A&W Restaurants published a parody tweet referencing the M&M's controversy on its social media profiles, showing Rooty wearing pants, claiming that the mascot's lack of pants was "polarizing". Outrage started emerging from conservative sectors, including Fox News (the report also aired on sister network Fox Business), claiming it to be real.[23] In a follow-up tweet, A&W said that the announcement was a joke. Spokesperson Liz Bazner said that the initial post was "purely in jest", and that A&W has no plans to change Rooty's outfit.[24] Fox Business later rectified the report, but didn't return its calls to A&W.

References

  1. 1 2 "A&W spokes-bear Rooty discusses his approach to social media". Nation's Restaurant News. April 15, 2013. Archived from the original on April 21, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  2. ↑ "The A & W Root Beer Bears". Collectors' Journal. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ O'Reilly, Terry (January 18, 2018). "How The A&W Root Bear Died Then Came Back to Life". Under the Influence. CBC Radio One. Pirate Radio. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Page 9 Advertisements Column 1". The Straits Times. 13 November 1974. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "Page 9 Advertisements Column 2". The Straits Times. 11 September 1976. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "Page 7 Advertisements Column 3". The Straits Times. 9 February 1978. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Spector, Joseph (September 7, 2019). "Papa Burger gets a permanent home in New York, and he looks amazing". Democrat and Chronicle. p. A11.
  8. ↑ Eugene Register-Guard. Eugene Register-Guard.
  9. 1 2 A Great American Brand - 90 Years of A&W, by Christa Bourg, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Page 10 Advertisements Column 1". The Straits Times. 28 June 1980. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  11. ↑ Ryan, Joal (January 13, 1999). "Drew Carey's Ill-Timed Big Mac Attack". EOnline.com. Retrieved January 13, 2013. Note that this source incorrectly Archived 2014-03-12 at the Wayback Machine implies that Carey was a spokesperson for the independently-owned American A&W chain.
  12. 1 2 "A&W Franchise Marketing Made Easy - A&W Franchise". awfranchising.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Lexington's loyal to its homegrown fast-food chains". Lexington Herald-Leader. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "A&W's mascot resurgence part of chain's bid to 'start fresh'". QSRweb. April 5, 2013. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  15. ↑ "NRN to host Tweet chat on social media strategies". Nation's Restaurant News. April 12, 2013. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  16. ↑ "A&W brings back its official spokesbear, Rooty". Lexington Herald-Leader. 14 April 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Corr, Amy (April 29, 2013). "A&W Restaurant's Social Media Moves: Locked Out Of LinkedIn, Rebounds With Vine". MediaPost Publications. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  18. ↑ Jacquelyn Perren, A Day at the Zoo, 1990
  19. ↑ Jacquelyn Perren, A Sea Voyage, 1990
  20. ↑ "Amburgers & Wootbeer". Glaring Notebook. 10 August 2014. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  21. ↑ "Lexington's loyal to its homegrown fast-food chains". MediaPost Publications. 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "A&W's mascot resurgence part of chain's bid to 'start fresh'". QSRweb. February 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Fox News is now mad about the A&W bear parodying the M&M mascots". avclub.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Why A&W put pants on its cartoon bear after M&M's spokescandies gaffe". cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
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