Mr. Whipple

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title: "Mr. Whipple" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fictional-grocers", "advertising-characters", "male-characters-in-advertising", "american-television-commercials", "works-about-toilet-paper", "mascots-introduced-in-1964"] description: "Advertising character for Charmin toilet paper" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Whipple" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Advertising character for Charmin toilet paper ::

Mr. George Whipple (also known as George the Grocer) Typically, Whipple scolds customers who "squeeze the Charmin," while hypocritically entertaining such actions himself when he thinks no one will notice. The character and catchphrase were created by John Chervokas of the agency Benton & Bowles. Prominent ad-man Sid Lerner also worked on the campaign.

Background

The first commercial featuring Mr. Whipple set the tone of the advertising campaign, which Advertising Age designated as among the top 100 campaigns of the 20th century.

"Mr. Whipple" was played by Dick Wilson,

In some commercials Mr. Whipple was accompanied by a stock boy named Jimmy, played by Adam Savage, known decades later for the television series MythBusters. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a competing grocer named Mr. Hoffmeier appeared in Charmin commercials as well. However, Hoffmeier encouraged his customers to squeeze the Charmin, and he scolded Whipple on his hypocrisy. By the late 1980s, Mr. Whipple was encouraging customers who weren't buying Charmin to squeeze it. One commercial featured him using a fishing rod to place the product in a skeptic's shopping cart.

In 1999, after a 14-year hiatus, Mr. Whipple returned in various Charmin commercials involving why he could not retire, with the answer being that he had to inform the public about Charmin. A later series of commercials featured him with the new slogan, "Is Mr. Whipple watching?" In 2000, Procter & Gamble presented Wilson with a lifetime achievement award as a subsequent advertising campaign began for Charmin that features Charmin Bears, a family of anthropomorphic cartoon bears.

Wilson died of natural causes on November 19, 2007, at the age of 91, in California.

In culture

According to a 1970s survey, Mr. Whipple topped then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter as the most recognizable face in North America. According to Charmin makers Procter & Gamble, a 1978 survey found that Mr. Whipple was the third best-known American, behind former President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham.

The country song "Don't Squeeze My Sharmon," which was a Top 10 hit for Charlie Walker in 1967, was inspired by the advertising campaign for Charmin.

In 1985 the lyric "You better squeeze all the Charmin you can when Mr. Whipple's not around" was included in the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Dare to Be Stupid".

The catchphrase "Don't squeeze the Chermin" was used in the 1986 comedy film Short Circuit when the main protagonist – Number 5 – defeats one of his sibling robots by causing him to crash into an outhouse.

In 2001 the lyric "Shake junt staring, I don't mean no harmin'/Call me Mr. Whipple cause I want to squeeze the Charmin" was included in the Project Pat song "Ooh Nuthin".

In 2006 the lyric "You can call me Mr. Whipple, I won't do no harmin'/Never to the Charmin, come holla at me woman" was included in the Project Pat song "Good Googly Moogly".

Adam Savage, who portrayed Whipple's stockboy Jimmy in several commercials, paid tribute to Whipple on Savage's show MythBusters, showing a vintage Charmin commercial which features Savage. On an episode of the final season of MythBusters, Savage also dressed in a stockboy uniform, a likely nod to Savage's work with Charmin commercials.

References

References

1. (November 19, 2007). "Charmin's Mr. Whipple actor Dick Wilson dead at 91". Reuters.
2. Fitzgerald, Jim. (July 27, 2011). "Man credited with Charmin 'Squeeze' campaign dies". [[The Washington Times]].
3. (October 31, 2017). "AW Throwback: Charmin's Mr. Whipple". Advertising Week.
4. "Mr Whipple: Please don't squeeze the Charmin! 20 years of toilet paper drama". Synchronista LLC.
5. "SIDNEY LERNER Obituary (2021) New York Times". Legacy.com.
6. (October 30, 2013). "Sid Lerner 2013 Arents Award Recipient". Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion.
7. (October 2, 2011). "Syracuse University alumnus has made Monday the perfect day to go meatless or start other healthy things". [[The Post-Standard]].
8. (May 23, 2019). "Commencement: 2019 Conferring of degrees at the close of the 143rd academic year". [[Johns Hopkins University]].
9. (2002). "A Century of American Icons: 100 Products and Slogans from the 20th-Century Consumer Culture". Greenwood Press.
10. Gates, Anita. (November 20, 2007). "Dick Wilson, Squeezer of Tissue Rolls on Television, Dies at 91". [[The New York Times]].
11. Aubrey, Allison. (August 9, 2010). "Campaign Aims To Make Meatless Mondays Hip". [[NPR]], citing commercial.
12. Nina Lentini. (December 5, 2007). "P&G Ad Pays Tribute To Actor Who Played Mr. Whipple".
13. "History of Charmin Toilet Paper". Procter & Gamble.

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