What color is his neckerchief?

Ahh ... The Pillsbury Dough Boy. Who can picture him without wanting to poke his stomach to hear that famous giggle?

When you do picture him, what color is his neckerchief? If you thought it was blue, you may have the same false memory as many others who are shocked to find that today it's white - and always has been.

His actual name is Poppin' Fresh, and he's been around since 1965. He became so popular a line of children's toys were created, and he even has an extended family now. He first appeared in the adverts using stop-motion animation, but from 1994 he's all CGI.

Brand

Global corporations, such as one selling food worldwide, invest millions in their brands because they know brand loyalty will back back those millions in the long term with a diveidend to boot. They will never change a brand, once established, without a seriously good reason. This applies even more so when there's a central character for the image. 

Who ya gonna call?

Many people think he was the huge monster in the first Ghostbusters movie, but in fact that was the totally fictional Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

The argument is that the white neckerchief represents the dough boy being made entirely of the dough he's made of. He's "pure and clean", which is a desirable image for a food stuff. When people see the mock up's of him with a blue neckerchief, they know something is off but can't quite place it. This is what subconscious brand marketing is all about - invoking feelings of happiness, contentment etc when they see the actual image, and not-so comfortable ones when it's been tinkered with, even though you can't quite place your finger on what's different. And we all know how much he loves your finger...