It’s still not ultimately clear why the Minnesota Valley Canning Co. (as it
was originally called) would choose to give its new mascot, The Green Giant, a
scowling expression and a the skin of a shearling as a loincloth. Perhaps the
oversight accounts for The Green Giant’s initially disappointing 1928 debut.

Though we’ve since grown to love him, Green Giant had very iffy
beginnings–resembling a gruff and grudging villain more than a supplier of
leafy green veggies that’ll keep parents and kids alike in the best of
health.

The ad agency responsible for the grinning green guy we know
today, Erwin, Wasey & Co., decided the first thing to tackle was wardrobe.
They stripped Greenie of his husky wild-skinned one-piece and made him a coat of
many spinach leaves with elfin emerald shoes to match.

A few years later
in 1935, one of the agency’s designers decided to branch out on his own and took
the Minnesota Valley account with him. The designer, Leo Burnett, thought it
best to add “Jolly” to Green Giant’s official name. In the 15 years
that followed, the mascot became so popular that Minnesota Valley Canning
changed its name to “Green Giant Co.”

It would seem that this
is where the history and evolution of the character would end right? Not
quite.

If you’re aged enough to remember the very first Green Giant
commercials in 1958, they probably still come back to haunt your waking dreams.
A hit-and-miss effort with more misses than hits, the commercial campaign tried
live action mascots (hiring male actors and covering them in green paint), a
puppet version of the Green Goliath, and rough animation.

But it wasn’t
until they gave him the selfsame catchphrase as our international symbol of
holiday gift-getting greed–we mean, “glee”–that he became, once
and for all, the most popular veggie-pushing Giant in all the land.