The Wisconsin Dairy Association

The Wisconsin Dairy Association ran an amazing ad campaign for a number of years. The campaign was the brainchild of Cathy Janes who designed an adorable little cartoon mouse which became instantly recognizable in a tri-state area. The WDA mouse could be purchased as a cuddly plush toy that squeaked. The image could be found on cups, posters, t-shirts, caps, bumper stickers, and billboards. The adventures of the little mouse could be followed on the WDA website in the form of a comic strip created by Ms. Janes and later written by Seth Baltz.
After four years of outstanding success with the campaign, the WDA ran a contest to name the mouse. This too was a popular project with whole classes of school children submitting their nominations for the honor of naming the mouse. Many radio stations held call in votes on peoples' ideas, ranging from "Fromage" to "Queso", and "Kream Abdul Jabbar" to "Curdles". There were many disappointed contestants when the WDA finally announced that the new name of their mascot was to be simply "Cheese". Still the name was easy and one-syllable and the mouse was still adorable so everyone embraced the new name and Cheese became even more popular. You could meet a live "Cheese" at mall openings and the state fair. Cheese became the most requested guest at school functions, beating out Smokey the Bear and Gruff the Crime Dog.
Eventually new leadership came to the board of the WDA and with it new ad representation. Although some old members of the board were loyal to the Cheese campaign, the new members wanted to revamp the image and looked for change to promote renewed interest in dairy. They used the ideas of a "young gun" at the ad agency, Connor Davis, to make "Cheese" into an older, cooler, mouse. They gave him sunglasses and a leather vest and put him on a motorcycle. The Cheese cartoon strip took on more adult themes which many considered to be in poor taste. They discontinued the Cheese plush toys and went with coffee mugs and mouse pads. The people of Wisconsin registered their opinions in editorials to the newspapers and in talk radio buzz. Many people were happy that Cheese had come of age, while others resented the arbitrary nature of the changes. Some Cheese fans felt that the changes were not family-friendly and that the new mascot lacked dignity. There were some in the anti-Cheese crowd that felt the the the colors used in the new campaign were possibly anti-american or even satanic. Overall, the WDA was extremely pleased with reactions from all sides because it meant that more people were thinking "cheese". From the statistical evidence it seemed that "Cheese" had always been a successful salesman for dairy in any form he assumed. In order to keep the controversy going, Mr. Davis proposed a summit meeting for the pro-new"Cheese" people and the anti-new"Cheese" people. The WDA ran another contest to choose a board of five people from each side to attend a weekend meeting at a luxury resort with the purpose of reaching a compromise on the "Cheese" situation. The contest proved to be another triumph for the WDA as thousands of people entered to win a place at the table. When the weekend event finally came the chosen participants spent time in separate meetings, hashing out their demands with like-minded people. The pro side had an easier time of negotiations since they were only arguing for the status quo. They finished their meetings and decided to go get massages. The anti group had a much more difficult time of reconciling the different moral, cultural and even legal objections which their constituents had raise. It was discovered during the discussions that many of the objections to the new Cheese were just the result of an unwillingness to embrace change. If was felt that the new Cheese might be acceptable if a little dignity could be preserved for the mouse. A leader emerged in the group, Jessica Mallow, who was able to convince everybody to agree to one request for change.
When the final summit took place on the Saturday afternoon, Ms. Mallow spoke for the anti-new "Cheese" contingentd, "All we are saying is give Cheese some pants"