Miss Chiquita earns her spot on advertising ‘Walk of Fame’

Miss Chiquita was tapped in 2018 to join the Advertising Week magazine’s “Madison Avenue Walk of Fame” in New York City, which recognizes famous brand ambassadors. She, of course, has been the mascot and trademark of Chiquita bananas since 1944.

Miss Chiquita was created for the United Fruit Company of Boston, Mass., by artist Dik Browne, who was working for Johnstone and Cushing, an advertising agency based in New York City.

His illustration of an animated banana was inspired by Carmen Miranda, a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer and actress. Carmen Miranda is remembered for her jumbo, fruit-filled hats, which characterized her roles in American films.

 

(Browne went on to enjoy an illustrious career as a cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing the “Hägar the Horrible” and “Hi and Lois” comic strips as well as “The Tracy Twins” for Boys’ Life magazine.)

 

Patti Clayton, a pop singer from Detroit and a regular performer on the “Arthur Godfrey Time” radio show, was the original voice of Miss Chiquita. Clayton was the first to sing the jingle with the calypso beat, which began: “I’m Chiquita Banana and I’ve come to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way....”

 

The little ditty was considered one of the most successful commercial jingles of all time, and it was played constantly by radio stations across the United States.

 

Others whose voices portrayed Miss Chiquita throughout the years included singers: Elsa Miranda of Ponce, Puerto Rico (top photo below); June Valli of The Bronx in New York City (center photo below); and Monica Lewis of Chicago (bottom photo below).

 

As the decades progressed, so did Miss Chiquita’s look as she was slowly brought to life. In 1987, artist Oscar Grillo of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was responsible for transforming Miss Chiquita from an animated banana into a human female character.

His makeover put a beautiful Latin woman in a bright blue dress trimmed in banana yellow…wearing a hat laden with a fruit cornucopia, said Advertising Week’s Heather Taylor.

 

“Since 2003, actress Jennifer Canales of Los Angeles has been the public face of Chiquita. She was chosen through a national search to become the legendary icon, Miss Chiquita, ‘the indisputable first lady of fruit,’” Taylor commented.

 

Earlier Miss Chiquitas included Elizabeth Testa of New York City and Angela Lanza of Bay City, Mich.

“Beyond being a festive face, Miss Chiquita is also a major advocate for the Chiquita brand. Her mission was – and still is – to demonstrate the fun side of healthy snacking,” Taylor wrote.

Chiquita is still the major player in the banana world, and its history is both colorful and full of intrigue.

The business originated in 1870 when Capt. Lorenzo Dow Baker of Wellfleet, Mass. (shown below), sailed back to the United States with 160 bunches of bananas from Jamaica aboard his ship. He sold them all in Jersey City, N.J.

 

Baker would form a partnership with Central American railroad developer Minor Cooper Keith of Brooklyn, N.Y. (shown below), in 1873 to harvest bananas in Costa Rica. 

 

They became associated with businessman Andrew Preston of Beverly Farms, Mass. (shown below), in 1884 and formed the Boston Fruit Company, an event that marked the “birth of the modern banana business.”

By 1899, the enterprise had evolved into the United Fruit Company, with Preston serving as president and Keith as vice president. In 1903, United Fruit Company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and became the first company to use refrigeration during open sea transport.

The company embarked on an aggressive growth strategy in Central America, expanding first into Guatemala…to eventually emerge as the primary supplier of bananas to U.S. markets.