Williams Mr. Pickle

Williams Mr. Pickle Advertising Button Museum
Category
Advertising
Additional Images
Williams Mr. Pickle button back Advertising Button Museum
Sub Categories
Illustrations
Food
Characters
Canes
Text on Button WILLIAMS MR. PICKLE OF MICHIGAN
Image Description

Black text and illustration of a man with pickle body, tomato head, and green bean arms and legs appears over a soft pastel-colored background. Man is walking with a cane and briefcase marked "WILLIAMS."
Back Paper / Back Info

THE WHITEHEAD & HOAG CO. NEWARK N.J. BUTTONS, BADGES, NOVELTIES AND SIGNS Allied Printing Union Bug: ALLIED PRINTING TRADES COUNCIL 3 NEWARK N.J.
Curl Text THE WHITEHEAD & HOAG CO. NEWARK, N.J.
Back Style
Unlocking pin
The Shape
Circle
The Size
1 1/4 inch
Year / Decade Made
1910s
The Manufacturer
Whitehead & Hoag Co.
Additional Information

Mr. Pickle was an advertising character used by Williams Bros. Co., established in Detroit, Michigan around 1885 by William H. Williams and his brother Henry. The initial launch of "Mr. Pickle of Michigan" was as a poster advertising campaign in Columbus, Ohio in 1910-1911. It cost less than $400 to post the entire town for five weeks! Its success encouraged the company to run the ads nationally.

Mr. Pickle is not all pickles; he's more of a vegetable man. However all ads for the company include their slogan "Pick the Pickle from Michigan" even when advertising other products. Here's one for Williams' Tomato Catsup.
Sources

Poster Advertising. (1912). United States: Blakely Printing Company. 214.

The American Federationist. (1913). United States: American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. 260.
Catalog ID AD0023