From 1967 through 1971, Frito's Corn Chips were sold on television by an animated spokeshombre called The Frito Bandito. The character was created by the ad agency of Foote, Cone & Belding, and the early spots were directed or at least supervised by the great Tex Avery. Mel Blanc provided the voice and the commercials were apparently quite effective at selling corn chips…at first.
Then the protests started, with the National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee and other groups complaining about the ethnic stereotype. They were right, of course, that television was then not offering much in the way of Hispanic characters or role models. If there'd been a few who were actual human beings, the corn chip bandit might not have been so offensive to some. Worse, "Frito Bandito" became a racial slur in many circles and a lot of people, not just minorities, came to find the character offensive. When sales on the product went into decline, the Frito-Lay people retired their mascot, replacing him at first with a group of cowboys called The Muncha Bunch. They later gave way to W.C. Frito, a W.C. Fields soundalike who also didn't catch on.
I really don't know how I feel about all this or even how much it matters. But you've probably heard of The Frito Bandito so I thought you'd like to see him…
