3/7/09 update: Jack Box makes miracle recovery
News alert: Jack Box, the fictitious chief executive of Jack in the Box, is in critical condition after getting slammed by a bus today. His last words before the tragedy were “breakfast all day and burger.”
Click to listen to Jack's last interview with The Maven
But is the iconic clown-head really dead?
That’s what the genius Jack in the Box marketing gurus will have us thinking after today’s Super Bowl. In a brilliant move, the San Diego-based burger chain kicked off the first of a series of commercials that question the fate of the beloved and hilarious Jack Box.
In the brief soap opera-inspired Super Bowl ad, Jack’s life hangs in the balance after he’s hit by a bus while crossing a street. At the time of the accident, Jack is discussing the chain’s “expansive” menu with another executive, Phil.
“I want to make sure the public knows they can get anything in our menu, anytime,” Jack says as walks across a busy street.
“For instance, breakfast all day, or maybe a burger…”
But, before he could finish his sentence, Jack is brutally hit by an orange and white bus. (I actually cringed when I saw it.)
“Hang in there Jack. It’s not that bad,” executive Phil lies to a critically injured Jack, whose head is visibly cracked in several spots like an egg.
The commercial ends with sirens blaring and a weepy woman holding what’s left of Jack’s tattered yellow cone-shaped hat. (shown, right)
As the cliffhanger ad fades to black, it displays this website: www.HangInThereJack.com. (CLICK HERE to view Jack in the Box’s news conference on Jack Box’s condition.)
My take: “OMG,” I shouted after previewing the commercial on Friday.
I’m heartbroken at the thought of Jack dying, yet again.
Remember, Jack’s speaker-box clown head was blown up in a 1980 commercial. But, in dramatic fashion, Jack came back to life in 1995. He’s now grown to be one of the most recognizable, if not funniest, fast-food mascots in the industry.
So, why kill off Jack?
Publicity, of course. Jack in the Box plans to drag out Jack’s bus bashing saga for weeks.
“The campaign will roll out over the next several weeks and will include….(more) television ads to keep Jack’s fans updated on his condition,” the company said. Besides the Hang In There Jack site, fans can get medical updates on his condition through Jack’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
I will keep watching. How about you?
Related stories:
- Listen to one of Jack’s last interviews with Register reporter Nancy Luna
- Jack in the Box testing sirloin sliders
- Jack in the Box testing chic new logo
- Maven talks fast-food wars with CBS reporter
- Jack in the Box’s sassy snub of Angus burgers nabs top ad award
- Carl’s Jr. to Jack in the Box: stop copying us
What hospital is Jack at? I’d like to send a sesame seed roll. I mean, flowers.
Serves Jack right to get hit by a bus after scheeming to use ordertakers in other countries.
Oh NOOOOO! Didn’t even see the end of the superbowl!!!! I don’t want to go to McDonald’s!!!! And I’m a whopper virgin!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
I am stunned. Jack looked really bad. My family is praying for him.
What a cool idea, we love your Jack ads they are always so good that we stop whatever we are doing and watch them…Keep us in suspense but always bring Jack Back like in “24″ ya never know if he’s coming back and want to watch more. Make up some stickers for your customers and Jack antenna balls with his head cracked and hat missing i would buy them,,,,i have more ideas,,
Good Job guys
Pam in Morro Bay, CA
I am stunned. I saw the commercial. Jack looked really bad. My family is praying for him.
Children should not see!
i hope you are okay i never told anybody this but…
I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU JACK I LOVE YOU ALWAYS
kiss
NOOOOOO
just saw this durin superbowl
stupid bus driver, hope he goes to hell!!!
Has anyone been able to get on the http://www.hangintherejack.com website?
i have been a loyal Jack in the Box customer since the early 70’s while i was in the Navy. If you kill off Jack, you’ve seen the last of me, this I swear.
Jack
Please Get Well Soon!!
Bring Jack to the Mayo Clinic in Phx area! They specialize in cracked egg heads and he can recover with the rest of us Cardinal fans.
Jack don’t leave me, I love you!
Oh no tell me it’s not true!
My son would have cried if he would have seen that. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was strangely sad. It’s like he’s part of their lives now.
I’ts Time for Jack to disapear AGAIN…
The site seems to be totally clogged, because I can’t get into it either. I’ve asked JACK reps to respond…The site went live earlier today, and it gives fans a chance to join email alerts to get updates on his condition. There’s also a “mock” press conference discussing the accident….
can.t believe he wasn,t pushed in front of bus
jack is a national treasure someone should be put behind or under bars for this act
he is way to smart this was no accident
call burn notice people they,ll help us get the truth
jackie we love ya
help is on the way
Poor Jack! This wasn’t an accident! Coould the Jack executive really be Ronald McDonald in disguise??? Maybe Wendy is paying the Jack Exec. You know- I think Carl is in on this to!!!
As Jack once said-He’ll be back!!!
We’re praying for you, Jack. Hang in there dude. For a second I thought he was a Quiksilver employee getting shoved under the bus.
Tell me what hospital Jack is in so I can sneak in and pull the plug!
i just tooka big fat obama! man it smells in here
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I rushed to my local JIB as soon as I heard but I was working on my car trying to get the jack off.
I hope this doesn’t mean the end of the jumbo deal. That’s the best thing going right now.
I thought I saw a clown driving that bus. Ronald?
Hang in there Jack!
We loveeee you!
Considering that the Jack campaign has been going on for over a decade, perhaps this was a smart move. And when you put this in historical perspective like you did, the bus accident is less violent than the 1980 ad in which the jack-in-the-box was blown up, or the 1995 ad in which “Jack” blew up the board of directors who had blown him up 15 years previous. Oddly enough, this was the Super Bowl commercial which grabbed my attention the most - and much of the country couldn’t even see it.
Unfunny.
I didn’t even think of the effect of young kids watching the game with their families until someone here mentioned it.
Just what we need! More senseless violence and tragedy at a time most of us a already bummed out over the economy.
I’m really turned off by this whole thing. Most JIB commercials have been humorous and happy. What am I to think about now when I drive past JIB? A vision of someone getting hit by a bus does not make me hungry.
jack is hotter than danica
Yes, it sure looked like huge head trauma to me too.
Hang in there Jack you are the man!
The ONE ad I turned the volume back on so my five year old could watch, and he sees Jack get plastered by a bus.
oh jack oh jack im so sorry my mom cant stop eating jumbo jacks its to get over the accident she really reallly like you she going to miss you jack hope you get better soon
jack noooooooo! why oh why jack this is an out rage i was a huge fan now i could never eat a jumbo jack again
Was Ronald McDonald driving the bus? Or Wendy? Was Jack born under an unlucky star, like Carl?
I didn’t notice any blood, or ketchup, in the ad. Or yolk or egg white for that matter.
Is anyone setting up a candlelight vigil?
What is Jack’s nationality, is he legal? I’m just wondering if us American’s are being stuck with his medical bills? Maybe we should ship him across the border…
My thoughts and prayers are with Jack and his family during this difficult time.
Remember back in the 80s when they blew up the clown? I was really pissed! This totally SUCKS!!!!
I don’t know why, but after seeing this ad, it made me want to go get an Egg McMuffin. Oooops, I don’t think that was the desired effect that they were going for… Maybe Ronald McDonald did have something to do with this?
My neighbor’s 4 year old son was traumatized big time when he saw the commercial, he cried his A$$ off all evening!
Sorry but this was Jack’s fault. Everyone else at the intersection’s crosswalk stopped except Jack. who walked out into traffic without looking. Jack’s previous encounter with the harbinger of death resulted in his becoming hard-boiled, so that’s probably why there wasn’t any yolk in the street after the accident and this event won’t result in Jack’s brains becoming scrambled. If the dip-wad with Jack is actually his second-in-command, he should be replaced with - at least - the guy Jack sent to Philly and soaked-up his experience like a sponge.
if jack couldn’t get off the ground, would you help jack off?
do you think mikki d. will visit jack in the hospital? i smell a rat! i’ll bet mayor mccheese or the hamburgler were driving the bus!
I’m Jack’s brother Tony and I want everyone to know that I saw what you did Sunday Night. I’m a total mess! The family will be flying to be at Jacks’ side as soon as the corporate jets flys in to pick us up. Please help by going to your local jak-in-the-box and and ask for a new atenna ball to show your support.
What and OUTRAGEOUS act for a money hungry company to break the hearts of and traumatize THOUSANDS of young children who love that stupid clown head just to make MORE MONEY!!!!!! You won’t get another red cent from me and as many friends and relatives as I can tell! I have a BIG mouth and WORD of MOUTH is the best advertisement. Yes, you’ll laugh all the way to the bank and so will child psychologists all over the country, but you have turned this grandmother off your food FOREVER!
Man Jack, they threw you under da bus
I hired that guy to take out Jack just like I hired those old ladies to take out the Burger King, the only one I have left is Wendy and the Dairy Queen which will be taken out in due time, in due time Ronald will rule them all!!!!
No, I will not keep watching. Many people who have not seen the commercials are hearing about this and actually think the CEO of the company is going to die. The campaign idea was smart, but the execution was terrible. They did not account for most of the population being naive.
Jack in the Box’s across the country have a sign on the drive thru and front door explaining how jack was hit. Imagine what these people think when they read a ‘hand written memo’ by the ‘jack in the box crew’ concerning their ‘CEO’. This campaign needs to be reworked or ended. Here is the reason why.
“People who harass others or JOKE ABOUT TRAGEDIES will be blocked.”
Jack in the Box needs to be blocked.. from TV.
Some of us remember other attempts to “kill the clown”–back in the 1970s JITB had an advertising campaign in which they blew up their clowns and went with a classier look to their drive thrus. This was pre-terrorism and everyone being so uptight about everything, obviously.
Are you really going to fall for this? Its just another advertising scam! Come on! There only trying to make you people buy more fast food from them because there profit has greatly decreased for a good amount of time. THEY WANT YOUR MONEY AND THEY ARE USING YOUR SYMPATHY TO GET IT! Haven’t you noticed? Theres enough proof to show that they are desperate. They lowered alot of their prices: They made that $2.99 deal for those tacos and burgers. Some of the U.S have been watching their diet and health recently. With a good percent of their customers gone from them, Of course they would go to drastic measures such as this! AND WHAT A GREAT WAY TO CATCH EVERYONES ATTENTION! THEY SHOW IT DURING THE SUPERBOW!!!!!!!
Wake up people. Dont fall for the advertising scam. Save your money for a better life and future.
This is just a sadistically depraved ad campaign that’s going to do far more harm for Jack in the Box than good. I can guarantee that half the population actually thinks that the CEO of Jack in the Box or the guy who puts on that mascot head is actually going to die from being hit by that godforsaken bus. People are actually praying for this guy! I’m just hoping for Jack in the Box’s marketing department to lay down their crack pipes. I swear, this was a bad move for Jack in the Box.
Bring back the Chicken Supreme with you, Jack!!!
This is a big hoax. Trying to draw in sales off a fictional charactor.
So when do they issue the new antenna ball that looks like it was run over by a bus?
the only people that were killed were the ones who were sick from e coli food poisoning in 1993. jack in the box was bad back then and still is now. it’s just a desperate marketing ad campaign that will still not change my mind to ever step foot into one of those restaurants and take a chance of getting sick.
That bus did not slow down one bit. Petal to the metal all the way. I have nightmares of that continuious noise they make, with the transmission shifting and the nitro-oxide engine spinning up. I even hear the sound of the airbrakes. My God. Except I did not even hear airbrakes that day he stepped in front of the bus. I need some help, a cure, a Wopper…no..a Big Mac..no, couple of Jack monster taco’s and a cholocate shake.
Hey, when do the toy’s come out. The wind up bus crashing into Jack?
Why did it have to be Jack? I mean if it were Ronald McDonald, then I would believe that there is true justice in the world. But Jack? Life just isn’t fair…
Not funny and in poor taste.
The buzz is; JITB’s board members should be investigated. Most people don’t remember, but an eerily similar plot to the ‘bus accident’ took place in Seattle in 1985. In that suspicious event Jack nearly died as a result of an explosion, thought to have been engineered by the board. If you want the complete details please read about it at http://www.StJosephStatue.com/wordpress
JEEZ. Well, I’m glad to hear it’s just a commercial and nothing more than that, just like I thought. I don’t watch the Super Bowl (Though, lol, I’m surprised I didn’t realize it was a SB thing in the first place!), so I didn’t see the original ads. I just saw the one where the send Jack into the ER. My mom was all “OMG What if the Voice Actor for Jack is hurt?” Then she comes back from JitB a few days later and said she saw a note in the window talking about Jack being hurt and to visit a website. She actually thought the voice actor for Jack was really hurt. After hearing about a “handwritten note in the window” I wondered if maybe it was true. Anyway, I think this is REALLY tacky. Normally I’m all in for crazy commercials and I love anything to do with commercial characters (I’m still a huge Geico Cavemen fangirl) and I really get into the episodes.. but this is just sad. :/ I don’t like being depressed and having MAH HEART crapped on. They should stick to fun, happy stuff. Screw this bus plot, bring back the Meaty Cheesy Boys!!!!!
man all this crap about jack is stupid !!! is he even real ! god !~~~~!!!!
all of you are really stupid
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! not JACK!
Please say it’s not true. I can’t bear to eat another “Jumbo Jack” until
I know he is ok…..keep us posted….
You can try giving him some “secret sauce” to revive him. It was a big mistake to remove the “secret sauce”…..now look what has happened.
Fossler of Arcadia
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!MY FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT IS JACK IN THE BOX I LOVE THE JACK IN THE BOX TACOS !!!!!! I THINK PHIL SET THIS UP HE SHOULD GET FIRED HE TOTALLY SET THIS UP UUUUUGGGGG THIS MAKES ME SO MAD1
Serves him right for killing the Monster Taco recently, and the guacamole a few years ago! Haha!!