How the Pillsbury Doughboy Has Stayed Fresh (Hoo Hoo!) for 50 Years

Rudolph Perz first saw the dough boy in his own kitchen. It was 1965. The Leo Burnett copywriter, working on the Pillsbury account, was at his Chicago home preparing Crescent Rolls, a new ready-to-bake product that required the user to hit the canister on the edge of a table to release the dough inside. Perz did this. Then he had an idea: What if a character popped out of the container instead?