Hardee’s California Raisins Figurine Promotions

Why It Mattered

They mattered because they brought an advertising-led licensing phenomenon into the everyday ritual of buying a biscuit or dessert. The surviving 1988 newspaper advertisement preserves unusually clear evidence of the price and qualifying purchase conditions behind the promotion.

From Clay Animation to Fast Food

• Foote, Cone & Belding developed the California Raisins advertising concept, with clay animation by Will Vinton Studios.
• The first California Raisins “Late Show” commercial dates to 1986.
• A December 1987 Washington Post report confirms that Will Vinton’s company had made a California Raisins commercial for Hardee’s.

Documented Offer Mechanics

• The 1987 offer had four plastic figures, about two inches high, at 99 cents with any dessert purchase; one figure was offered each week.
• The programme was tied to Hardee’s Cinnamon ’N’ Raisin biscuit.
• A 20 July 1988 advertisement offered six new limited-edition, hand-painted “Grapevine Tour ’88” figurines for 99 cents with two Rise ’N Shine biscuits or any dessert.

What Remains Unconfirmed

• The supplied records do not verify the physical figures’ manufacturer, country of manufacture, complete character checklist or packaging variants.
• The July 1988 advertisement establishes the offer in at least one participating market, not nationwide availability.
• Hardee’s 2023 return of the Cinnamon ’N’ Raisin biscuit did not document a renewed California Raisins figurine offer.

Associated With

Hardee’s - restaurant promoter; Foote, Cone & Belding - advertising agency; Will Vinton Studios - animation studio

Defining Feature

Low-cost California Raisins figurines offered with qualifying dessert or biscuit purchases

Status

Unknown - Historical promotions; no modern figurine-premium revival is documented

Primary Records

• Advertising History of the California Raisins
• Hardee’s: About Us / History of Hardee’s
• The Lowell Ledger, 20 July 1988: Hardee’s “Grapevine Tour ’88” advertisement
• Raisin to New Heights, The Washington Post, 19 December 1987

Image Sources

• Image 1
• Image 2
• Image 3
• Image 4
• Image 5

Rights Notice

Images are included for historical and archival reference.

Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.

Gallery and image credits