The Real-Life Adaptation Of Miss Chiquita

"I'm Chiquita Banana, and I've come to say bananas have to ripen in a certain way." When you recite this iconic jingle, you may envision the sultry anthropomorphic banana who performed it in TV spots as early as the 1940s. The illustrator of the original Miss Chiquita was a cartoonist named Dik Browne, and according to the company, she was designed to give the Chiquita brand a playful, appealing (er... a-peeling?) personality. However, the design changed over the ensuing decades. In the 1980s, the harmonious tropical banana was humanized to become a vivacious woman who advocated for incorporating the wholesome curved fruit in everyday diets.

However, unlike a surprisingly high number of other renowned food mascots, including Little Debbie, Wendy, the Gerber baby, and the Sun-Maid girl, the reimagined Miss Chiquita was, sadly, not modeled after a real person. Instead, the new and improved Miss Chiquita was designed by a beloved animator, and the rest, as they say, is history. This is the incredible story of Miss Chiquita's evolution. 

Today, many customers know the Chiquita banana mascot as a Latin American woman sporting a yellow and blue flamenco dress, gold hoop earrings, and an elaborate fruit basket headpiece. Her instantly recognizable silhouette appears on the brand's distinctive stickers in grocery stores around the globe. So, how did this dancing lady come to be? Her creator is Oscar Grillo, who is also responsible for drawing yet another legendary character –– the Pink Panther. Grillo reportedly sketched the very first rendition of the modern Miss Chiquita, according to the company.

Clearly, Miss Chiquita has proven herself to be a pop culture superstar who has made an impact on the culinary industry, not to mention a longstanding marketing masterpiece. In fact, she was inducted into the Advertising Week Madison Avenue Walk of Fame in 2018 and received the inaugural PopIcon International Achievement Award during Latin American Advertising Week in 2019. After all, who can forget, "When they are flecked with brown and have a golden hue, bananas taste the best and are best for you!" Miss Chiquita continues to stand the test of time and has even shown up in the flesh at a golfing event, the Chiquita Classic, in 2014.