CH: But while the ad made the dancing California raisins cool did it do anything for actual California raisins? Sarah tells us what happened next SW: In 1994, a group of raisin packers voted to shut down CALRAB. Vinton and his team spent weeks making about six different figurines and a set made out of clay. Hey Sarah. Jackson, who agreed to do his commercial for free (and on the condition that he only work with Vinton, who he knew from their Captain EO project with Disney), helped create his own Claymation raisin with his signature single white glove, fedora, and pelvic-thrusting dance moves. The California Raisins are a fictional rhythm and blues musical group comprised of anthropomorphized raisins. Unlike the smaller brands in the industry, it could afford to pay for that space. Which meant packers couldn't slap a Dancing Raisin on their packaging or use the characters in ads unless they got their idea approved by the board. The claymation raisins singing and dancing to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" became a kids TV show, recorded an album that went platinum, launched a range of toys and costumes, and starred in an Emmy-winning Christmas special. And that is something producer that producer Sarah Wyman has made very clear to me since she began digging into the orgins of the California dancing raisins ad. Right or wrong, It depends on wherever the votes are. Today, it would go viral. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. SW: For the packers who did have their own brands and worried Sunmaid was running away with raisin sales, there was another issue. A short time after that, he sat in a studio and sang the words into a microphone while strumming his guitar along with a few friends. And so he says, 'Ok fine. And he made it very clear to me right off the bat that no one, him included, would be interested in talking about the New York Times story I'd read. Although Vinton made one last Claymation TV movie about the Raisins in 1990, the end of the '80s brought a decline in the Raisinss popularity. eBay (UK) Limited acts as a credit broker not a lender. Brought to you by is a production of Insider Audio. The raisin packers didn't reach this decision because anyone had anything against the ad, or because licensing fees had stopped rolling in, or even because raisin sales were down. I treat my vines as if they were my children. Sarah Wyman is our showrunner. And since there wasn't a "Dancing Raisin" brand in the store, small packers worried Sunmaid was getting all the business. And then on top of that, this article also made mention of a raisin mafia, along with allegations of death threats!? There is also some good news though! The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 to 1994, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84 or 85. She would always show them to me and talk to me about them and how cute and clever they were, and I just thought, why in the world is a grown woman so excited about something so ridiculous? And on top of everything else, he says there's one subject of conversation that just won't drop. Paul McCartney requested his own copy on VHS. But despite it all, by a very narrow margin, more than half the room voted to greenlight the ad. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. SW: Kalem Barserian has worked in the raisin industry for more than 50 years. But I also take the approach of, that was 30 years ago so I think it's time that we look forward because the industry is in a very dramatic, very drastically different place than it was back then. KB: And at this point, even though I had to vote to kill it, I side on the other side, where I helped put that program together, and was successful for ten years. And it became more entertainment than strategy. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Buddy Miles. Would everyone contribute to the cost of an ad campaign? Like, growing up, we had this little figurine in our doll house, and my parents dressed up as them one year for Halloween. SW: Michael Brunsfeld was the commercial animation director at a company called Colossal Pictures, which had been contracted to do a mockup of the ad. KB: Because a raisin is a raisin is a raisin. SW: His boss had him working mostly on trade adsstuff for industry publications not the kind of campaigns you or I would ever see in a commercial or on a billboard. Phrases Similar to Heard it Through the Grapevine Sign up for notifications from Insider! Everyone is hungering for unity again, they just have to find something to unify around. Commissioned by the California Raisin Advisory Board (CALRAB), a trade group of raisin producers in Californias Central Valley, the commercial was part of a multi-million dollar campaign to combat slowing raisin sales. SW: Ross Vannelli is a music producer. But first, he had to get approval from the raisin growers and packers who were paying for it. Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. (laughs). CALRAB gave the "Grapevine" pitch the green light. WERNER: We still thought it was cool. SW: The California raisin industry is complicated. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's &, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The classic about a man who finds out his woman is cheating on him was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. But he told me something else too, something he says a lot of reporters like mewho fly into Fresno from the big city to cover the dramaoften miss: MM: We're all families here and so, everybody's really close, everybody knows each other, I mean, a lot of them are related to each other, they marry in, and so they're very tight SW: And that big family, with lots of opinions, is where some of that drama comes from. We were so embarrassed. Just one piece! I Heard It Through The Grapevine - California Raisins. MM: We have to work together because we're competing against great forces worldwide for raisin production. The answer? Is it that people remember it? BK: If you're one of the largest ingredient buyers for bread or cereal or something, then really you're paying for it, right? Almost across the board, everyone I spoke to had good things to say about the ad itself. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. And their arms were like small, and they had like little legs. Hey. BK: You gotta have consensus. KB: Whereas the packer is the middleman buying it from him, processing it, selling it, shipping it into trade and hoping to make a profit. They all want to have them back [sigh] I don't know if it's just because they love the dancing raisins, or I think more than that, is they just want a powerful campaign, you know, backing up California raisins. [1] The California Raisins were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.[2][3]. SPEAKER TEN: We had the Christmas special on videotape, we probably watched it like three or four times a December, between when I was like 4 and 8. MATTHEW MALCOLM: I mean you can't just leave any field barren here, because something's gonna grow. He said: WERNER: He would not approve the nose that I put on the raisin, no matter what I did, he wouldn't approve of it! Kalem Barserian will tell you the ad made the raisin industry money, and he will pull out a calculator to prove it. But were they a success for the raisin industry? It's a tax. The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 to 1994, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84 or 85. BK: No, what we got was him for free, but he wasn't gonna do anything. In 2010, claymation versions of the California Raisins were featured in the special Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "A Very Sunny Christmas". Our collection database is a work in progress. As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. Vintage California Raisins Posable, Puppets, Bank, Wind up toy. KB: And the packers got pissed at Barry and killed the program. I said, 'Ok, that's one piece of the marketing puzzle. SW: Seth's boss handed him the California raisins account. Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. Werner's big idea was going to be a risk, especially without the celebrity spokesperson the client had requested. But back in 1986, going viral was not yet a thing. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100. To make sense of that storyto understand where the dancing raisins came from, and how they disappearedeveryone told me I needed to talk to this guy. I says, 'in Canada? No, not really. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. So, growers and packers paid a tax on every ton of raisins they produced. SW: Yeah, that did not go over well within the industry. I Heard It Through the Grapevine features a clip the movie The Big Chill where a group of teenagers in a library who are listening to the song through headphones which leads them to dance . Somewhere, some afternoon, Noel Gallagher sat down with a guitar and did a little strumming and made up a few words to go with it. Little disagreements surfaced. SW: So a couple of months ago, I read this New York Times article that sort of started it all for me. So they'd pose them, they'd take a picture of that, then they'd re-pose them slightly in a slightly different pose, take a picture of that. View wiki The Raisins released numerous studio albums in the 1980s, starred in a cartoon series, and were nominated for an Emmy for their 1988 "Meet the Raisins" mockumentary. It's hurting from some bad weather trends. Oh! KB: Couldn't find it! WERNER: My job, I called it jack of all trade. CHARLIE HERMAN: On September 14, 1986, California's hottest new band made its debut. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Director. Between 12th and 14th Streets in 1988. And some of them played instruments, maybe?SPEAKER TWO: All dancing in the real world, but in their little clay situation.SPEAKER THREE: They were disproportionately raisinly huge. KB: [counts] 350 versus 244. CH: The dancing raisins were so popular, they took on a life of their own outside of the ad. California RaisinsSing The Hit Songs 1987 Priority Records, LLCReleased on: 1987-01-01Associated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Leslie SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard MccraryAssociated Performer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Co- Arranger: Ed GrengaAssociated Performer, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar: Pat KellyAssociated Performer, Bass Guitar: Dave MarottaAssociated Performer, Drums, Percussion: David StefanelliAssociated Performer, Saxophones: David WoodfordProducer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Ross VannelliAssociated Performer, Vocalist: Buddy MilesComposer Lyricist: Barrett StrongComposer Lyricist: Norman WhitfieldAuto-generated by YouTube. Our editor is Micaela Blei. Music is from Audio Network. So, just like at Thanksgiving dinner, while CALRAB tried to calm everyone down and broker peace from the head of the table, squabbling raisin packers aired old grudges and argued about who was and was not getting their fair share of the cash. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. Dancing Raisins Heard It Through the Grapevine. Some had small brands that competed with Sunmaid. AD SEVEN: I heard it through the grapevine! SPEAKER ONE: Like obviously, they're raisins, but it just didn't occur to me that like this was a tool to get you to eat like what you see in boxes of raisins. You know? The California Raisins, Michael Jackson, and more Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Official Music Video) Creedence Clearwater Revival 36M views some 80s music. Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. SPEAKER FOUR: I even had little figurinesSPEAKER FIVE: I remember seeing them in my toy chestSPEAKER ONE: They were part of some happy meal kind of thing CH: The dancing raisins were invited to light the National Christmas Tree at the White House. But in 1994, the raisin industry abruptly pulled the plug on the ad and its spinoffs, and still debates whether or not it was successful. Post's Raisin Bran cereal took advantage of the increasingly popular dried fruit and teamed up with the Raisins to help promote their boxed cereal, and fast food chain Hardees bought a license to produce the incredibly popular collectible Raisins figurines. In The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", The California Raisins were spoofed as The California Prunes, on a special entitled Christmas with the California Prunes. BK: It actually got to the point where the Dancing Raisins had their own television show. [8] While cel animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, it maintained Will Vinton's creative direction. Oh! And this is what I told him. Claymation was an unproven conceptthis was probably the first time it had been used in a commercial. The success of the dancing raisins exposed fractures in the industry which had been forming just under the surface for decades. SW: In the end, the ad went to air. And now they are all I can think about!! Back in 1987, the president of Priority Records got in touch with Ross, and he asked him to produce an album of Motown hits, sung by the California Raisins. SW: Remember, these were Fresno guys, not big city ad men. KB: Heard it through the grapevine! SPEAKER NINE: Definitely didn't make me any more of a fan of raisins. Note: This transcript may contain errors. SW: Back in Fresno, the raisin growers and packers watched with amazement as the Dancing Raisins turned into superstars. In 1985, both halves of the industry were funding CALRAB. And then, job number two: they work on public relations and marketing for the entire raisin industry. Those California Raisins weren't just in California anymore. Raisins are not like cell phone brands, with unique features and better WiFi connectivity and a sleeker feel than their competitors. Raisin farmers rely on good weather and conditions to grow their product. SW: The ad agency hired a guy named Will Vinton and his team to take the animated mockup of the ad and turn it into clay animationor, claymation. But anyway, there's this one line in the story that implies that even though the ad went on to be super successful, even though you and I still remember it all these years later, it may have precipitated some really huge divisions within the raisin industry. et Cie, S.C.A. There was 19 of us at Sunnyside country club sitting in a circle in the main dining room, and we all voted. Price: 16.01. And maybe some people are pessimistic about it, I don't know, maybe people are tired of just the lack of unity. Besides appearing in short commercials, The California Raisins shared their musical chops in television specials. HO: Oh, there's definitely hope. The California Dancing Raisins ad has been called one of the best of all time. The 1980's TV commercials for California raisins have been called some of the best ads ever made. Scientists mull polarized light detection from alien life-forms, Nano-mechanical sensors wired using photonics, E. coli outbreak leads to massive flour recall, First human CRISPR trial passes safety and ethics review, Cephalopods: Natures camouflaging masters, Scientists detect gravitational waves for the second time, Colorful secrets of chemical elements with slow motion flames. (of Suite D2 Josephs Well, Hanover Walk, Leeds LS3 1AB) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (with firm reference number 626349). SPEAKER FIVE: They just made raisins and dried fruit in general seem really, really hip. Listen to music by California Raisins on Apple Music. The ad was fun, but, to quote The Fruits of Their Labors again, it "made no effort to sell raisins. Oh! And they were hearing from those ingredient customers that they had an issue with the ads: BK: Some large customers felt they were paying for it. KB: Vine doesn't know who it belongs to. Seth and his colleagues were getting fan mail forwarded to themfrom viewers, TV stations, and other advertising execs. And they should pretty much be still once they do their heard it! In 1987, Vinton featured the Raisins singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in A Claymation Christmas Celebration, a Christmas TV special he produced that won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. The growers are the ones with the vines. Merchandise sales included toys and Raisins images on nearly every conceivable medium: lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, and even a Halloween costume, just to name a few. The show would have animated raisins acting as rockstars, and the song, "I heard it through the grapevine," was the California Raisins number-one single. And because they were big companies, not headquartered in the Fresno circle, they were not at the table, and participating in all of this back-and-forth. Still one thing nearly everyone does agree on is the mass appeal of the dancing raisins. Start the wiki. Earlier this year, the CRMBwhich did not respond to my request for commenthired a brand new Vice President of Marketing. Or, as they saw it, for Sunmaid's good. And the answer is usually 'we don't know.. but probably not.' You got 100,000 tons. Seth Werner, the young copywriter newly in charge of the California Raisins account, had a concept. The show was broadcast August 29, 1990, on the U.S. television network CBS during primetime. We apologize for the interruption. Here's Sarah again: SW: One morning in 1986, Seth and the team at Foote, Cone, and Belding piled into a car and headed to Fresno. SW: But by 1994, the packers had reached a consensus. I mean, we didn't do anything short of that. Yeah the good news is the industry is at a point where people are working together more than they have historically, at least in the past 20 years or so. And, when it went down, so did the Dancing California Raisins. SW: The raisin industry quickly followed up with more ads. Packers sort the raisins by size, rinse out sand and dirt, control for quality, and pack them all up in boxes. See terms. TikTok video from Shug (@sonyastanford2). Michael Jackson asked to be featured in a sequel. RV: I said, 'I'm going to do it where it feels authentic.' This is Brought to you by Brands you know, stories you don't. onefunplace. I'm Charlie Herman. If you have more stories to share, call us anytime. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback. The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. What about Michael Jackson and what he was contributing? For the last 10 years, he's violated the law and gone against the Raisin Administrative Committee. You can have a talking head, you can have a situation' you know, there were like formulas on how to do this. SUNMAID AD: My girl talkin' bout my girl. SPEAKER THREE: The one song I remember them doing all the time was "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" To the point where I was a kid and I hadn't, I don't think it really clicked to me that that was like a real song. He writes: "The thirty seconds of this commercial seemed like an eternity. Not much longer would you be mine baby. [16], In 2002, the Food Network program Unwrapped featured a segment on The California Raisins featuring interviews with Will Vinton, David Altschul, and Mark Gustafson of Vinton Studios. Kalem Barserian, along with around 40 raisin growers, packers, and industry members, was in that room. Sunmaid. Lived here my whole life. ', 'Today during Ryan's Hope I saw the cutest commercial. It turns out the raisin industry is actually a very contentious industry there's this long history of lawsuits going back and forth between different members. Our collection database is a work in progress. And since they were already touring the country, at least on TV screens, there was only one logical next step. THE THROWBACK MACHINE: Going for the gold, but coming up blonde. Then in 1989, a 13-episode Saturday Morning Cartoon show calledThe California Raisin Show aired. BK: So the bottom line was you didn't have industry consensus. Think you know music? 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