Has the Sun-Maid Girl Become Too Sexy for Her Raisins?

Sun-Maid Gives Beloved Corporate Trademark a Controversial Computer Makeover

Although consumers tend to flip channels when commercials start, they also develop deep attractions to advertising logos and spokespersons. Many men admit, for instance, that they have a crush on Flo, the impossibly perky Progressive Insurance saleswoman played by actress Stephanie Courtney. Twenty-five years ago, senior citizen Clara Peller also became a national sensation simply by uttering "Where's the beef?" in a series of ads for Wendy's.

Unfortunately, as the folks over at Sun-Maid are finding out, consumers don't like anyone to mess with their corporate icons, even the companies that own them. Nearly 40 years after her latest update, the beloved Sun-Maid girl has entered the digital age with a modern, computer-enhanced image that some say is too sexy.

Sun-Maid brings their logo into the 21^st Century

According to the official Sun-Maid Raisin website, Lorraine Collett Petersen was the original model for the Sun-Maid girl in 1915. Discovered in her parent's backyard, Petersen was asked to model for the original Sun-Maid trademark, wearing her mother's sunbonnet and holding a basket of freshly picked grapes.

Petersen's image has been updated a few times over the last 90 years, but the basic innocence of the Sun-Maid trademark remained consistent. The new, digitally-enhanced version of the Sun-Maid girl has many of her fans up in arms, though. As KSEE 24 News reports, the Sun-Maid trademark now sports tighter clothing, causing critics to argue that her grapes look a bit, uh, plumper this year.

Too sexy for her raisins?

The Sun-Maid girl digital enhancement is the latest example of how a makeover of a beloved public image can cause a firestorm of controversy:

• Joe Camel. After using a single-humped dromedary on their Camel brand cigarettes, the R.J. Reynolds Company gave the creature a cool personality in the late 1980's. Rechristened "Joe Camel," the new Camel cigarette trademark came under fire for his appeal to children. After nearly a decade of controversy over kids and smoking, Joe Camel took early retirement.