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The Great Root Bear

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Mascot of A&W American restaurant chain
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Fictional character
Rooty the Great Root Bear
A&W Restaurants character
Rooty in his American version, in a statue photographed at the Iowa County, Wisconsin location in 2016
First appearance1973; 51 years ago (1973)
In-universe information
SpeciesBrown bear
GenderMale
OccupationBear mascot for the A&W Restaurants fast food chain
Rooty in his Canadian version

The Great Root Bear, known since at least early 2012 as Rooty and in Quebec as Grand Ours A&W, is an anthropomorphic brown bear used as the mascot (or "spokesbear") of both A&W Restaurants in the USA and its operations in Asia, while the Canadian operations use its own version. The mascot was introduced to the public in 1973. The mascot went out of use in the USA in the 2000s but saw a resurge after 2011.

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. The Canadian version has a modified face and a brown muzzle.

Rooty also lacks opposable thumbs in his paws. Some have compared his appearance to Yogi Bear.

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, Wisconsin, 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 traffic. 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.

International adoption

Statue of The Great Root Bear photographed at the Wittenberg, Wisconsin location in 1988

Before long, The Great Root Bear was adopted by the American A&W chain, as well as the restaurants it operated in Asia. In the United States alone, the previous A&W mascots, the Burger Family, were phased out beginning in 1973. 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. The costume for the character, with an animated-type appearance, was designed by the same company that did costumes for Disneyland. The design cost $US25,000.(equivalent to $154,453.44 in 2023)

The Great Root Bear was now making widespread public appearances in places such as television performances, hospitals, schools and in the chain's own restaurants, especially starting in the summer season of 1974. He was also taking part in activities related to the Easter Seals Telethon in 1976 and 1977. Restaurants also handed out Great Root Bear-branded Hocus-Pocus Magic Kits during the campaign.

By 1976 the mascot had become successful, with merchandise such as straws featuring the bear were made available. A hand puppet of the bear was introduced in the Christmas season of 1977. In 1978, the company's newsletter, the A&W News Dispenser, was renamed A&W News Bearer. Balloons in birthday parties hosted at its restaurants were given the name "bearloons" and the straws, "bearstraws". Moreover, from 1975, A&W started printing coupons known as "The Great Root Bear Buck" (currently just Bear Bucks), modelled after US dollar notes with Rooty's face in the center.

Until 2012, the mascot had no given name. In its first year of usage in the United States, a franchisee in Walla Walla named him "Rudy", sounding close to the current Rooty, in a newspaper advertisement for take-home gallons of root beer.

The bear also lent its name to a playground at its restaurants in Malaysia starting in 1990, Bearland. By early 2004, the Bearland playground had lost most of its attractions.

In Canada

The Great Root Bear, with its own design, continued appearing in television commercials for the separate chain in Canada. Only in 1978 did the Canadian chain successfully set up its own trademark for the mascot, and on September 11, 1995 for his French name.

The bear and the tuba jingle that accompanied him became a long-running campaign, created by Griffiths-Gibson of Vancouver (the tune, entitled "Ba-Dum, Ba-Dum", was released as a single in April 1977 by Attic Records, credited to "Major Ursus", a play on Ursa Major or "great bear"). The famous Canadian composer and B.C. Hall of Fame winner Miles Ramsay helped compose the song. The famous tuba jingle was played by famed Vancouver jazz, classical and session trombonist Sharman King.

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. Following the reintroduction of The Burger Family, the bear was phased out from advertising.

Decline and rebound

In 2000, A&W donated 30 teddy bear versions of its mascot to the Bears on Patrol children's safety program in Oakland County, Michigan.

In 2009, when the bear was downsized from the chain at a national level, the Lodi restaurant (Peter Knight, owner) 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). The mascot opened a new restaurant in Garden City, Kansas in early 2009.

A statue of Rooty holding a mug of root beer sitting in a barrel

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. A bronze statue of the bear holding a mug was erected at lobby of the new headquarters in Lexington. 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. Liz Bazner, who was in charge of the tweets, 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. 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.

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" or "goodwill ambassador" and is, depending on sources, either 6 or 7 feet tall. The chain suggests that Rooty embodies "fun and nostalgia" related to the brand. Rooty is "funny" and "goofy", and was seen as "not polarizing, but loveable". In 1992, a franchisee owner described Rooty as "very fuzzy, very friendly and plump".

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. 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. A 1987 print advertisement for the American branch's lunch boxes in that year's back-to-school season depicted Rooty and his wife behind a cub.

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.

The profile didn't last long, and on February 13, LinkedIn removed the profile, under the grounds that the Rooty wasn't real. 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. 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. Fox Business later rectified the report, but didn't return its calls to A&W.

See also

References

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