Captain Birdseye
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Captain Birdseye is the advertising mascot for the Birds Eye frozen food brand founded by Clarence Birdseye. Appearing in numerous television and billboard commercials, he has been played or modelled by various actors (the most recognisable being John Hewer) and is generally depicted as a clean living, older sailor with a white beard, dressed in merchant naval uniform and with a seafaring accent. In Germany he is known as "Käpt'n Iglo", in France as "Captain Iglo" (the word "captain being in English) and in Italy as "Capitan Findus".
The mascot is a reference to the brand's extensive and well-known range of frozen seafood products, of which fish fingers is probably the most-widely known. Because the Birds Eye brand is marketed to families, many of the advertising compaigns feature Captain Birdseye as having a 'crew' composed mostly of children in the preteen to teenage age groups, encouraging brand loyalty from children and emphasising the convenience of serving the company's products to their parents. A recent 2005 advertising campaign in the UK features Captain Birdseye categorically proclaiming that Birds Eye frozen readymade meals contain no artificial flavours or preservatives, with obvious references to the products being healthy and nutritious to children.
For a while in the early 21st century, Captain Birdseye became a much younger, rugged, dark-haired man with designer stubble and a miniature submarine, who indulged in far more action-packed adventures accompanied by his pet pelican named Pedro, the advertising agencies presumably believing that the older white-bearded man would no longer have the same appeal to children as he once did. This version did not last long however, and the better-known version soon returned.
In the UK television sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Derek Trotter once mockingly called Uncle Albert 'Captain Birdseye', in reference to their similar appearances and Uncle Albert's naval past. The Goodies also parodied the adverts as 'Captain Fishface', ending with a note saying "Captain Fishface has your children. If you want them back send 2000 wrappers from Fishface Cod Pieces (after all...ye don't know what goes into my rissoles, do ye?...)" Spoofs of the Birds Eye commercials featuring "Captain Fishy, the man with the fishy fingers" were featured on BBC Radio One in the UK in the early 1990s.
