Sallie the Salmon, 2016 (Pittsburgh, Penn.) -
VP candidate for Independent (2016)
Running mate with nominee: Charlie the Tuna (b. 1961)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
According to the July 22, 1992 Cincinnati Enquirer, when Morris the Cat II made his second run for the Presidency that year his running-mate was StarKist Tuna animated spokesfish Charlie the Tuna. Both commercial mascots were handled at the time by the Leo Burnett Company, an advertising agency.
StarKist had originally owned 9-Lives cat food (with Morris the Cat in the ads) and StarKist Tuna (with Charlie the Tuna) but sold out to Heinz in 1963, who in 1992 still owned both brands. Comedian (and later film director) Adam McKay wrote Morris' pun-filled Presidential announcement speech.
Charlie was created by Burnett adman Tom Rogers (d. 2005) in 1961. He based the character on Jazz hipster Henry Nemo (1909-1999). Charlie was voiced by Herschel Bernardi (1923-1986), who had been blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era. The animation was by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.
In the tradition of suicide food mascots, Charlie continually wants to be caught by StarKist because he has "good taste," but is always rejected because StarKist wants tuna that "tastes good." Usually the rejection came in the form of a note attached to a fish hook that read, "Sorry, Charlie," which became a wider popular expression in the 1960s and beyond. I remember those earliest Charlie the Tuna ads with great fondness.
Flash forward a couple dozen years. Charlie the Tuna ran for President himself in 2016 as "America's alTUNAtive candidate." StarKist's marketing campaign included a gimmick where, via social media, the public could select Charlie's running-mate among a selection of other characters in the company's cartoon mascot universe, most of them recently invented. Other franchises, such as Hello Kitty, had used the same advertising method in earlier elections. Just days before the election, Sallie the Salmon emerged as the choice.
The electioneering included attack ads against eating beef and chicken. After the election Charlie released a concession speech.
In a real-life political scandal, at the time Charlie was running for President StarKist was charged with underfilling their cans of tuna, and also of price-fixing along with Bumblebee and Chicken of the Sea. StarKist settled the lawsuit regarding the underfilling in 2015 and gave a guilty plea to price-fixing in 2018, finding themselves fined $100 million as a result.
On the bright side the advertising company that handled the 2016 campaign, Gatesman, won in the category of "Best Facebook PR Campaign" at the PR News' National 2017 Social Media Awards.
Needless to say, the number of Constitutional barriers to the Charlie/Sallie ticket assuming office in the event they had won are too numerous to list.
Election history: none
Other occupations: fish
Notes:
Charlie was practically retired after Bernardi died in 1986 but the character was revived in 1999.
