The Story Behind Acme, the Brand That Never Existed

As you read these words, a team of writers and animators at Warner Bros. is working on a much-buzzed cartoon film slated for a 2023 release. It will be funny, of course, but it will finally air the details of an ugly legal dispute that’s been festering since 1948. And after 75 years of having shoddy mail-order products malfunction on him, Wile E. Coyote just might see some justice once Coyote v. Acme hits theaters. Even though most of the millions of kids who grew up watching Road Runner were cheering for the bird, it’s hard not to ache for the poor prairie wolf who never catches him. Nor, for that matter, could one fail to raise an eyebrow over the appalling performance of the Rocket Skates, the Jet Propelled Pogo Stick, the Giant Rubber Band and every other gadget that, to assist him in his pursuit of dinner, the coyote mail-ordered from the Acme Corporation. Acme, of course, doesn’t exist. But thanks to scores of Road Runner cartoons (and any number of other WB shows), Acme is easily the most famous brand that never was. “The products are always so horrible,” said Pete Browngardt. “Whoever created those products in this fictional universe of Acme had great comedic timing because [they] always backfired at the perfect time.” Browngardt is in a position to know. As an executive producer and showrunner for Looney Tunes, he’s seen a lot of the Acme Corporation. Everyone at WB has. (Remember Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Marvin Acme of the Acme Corporation is who gets bumped off.) “Every time there's any kind of product that the characters are using,” Browngardt said, “even outside of the Road Runner-Coyote universe, it’s always Acme—because of the legacy.” Part of that legacy is legal, seeing as the Acme name is free and clear to use, but most of it has to do with legendary animator Chuck Jones, who put his mark on all the studio’s major characters in the 1940s. Jones chose the Acme name based on his childhood memory of Los Angeles' first phone books where businesses chose the Acme name so they could be listed up front. As author and animation historian Jerry Beck explained, to build an entire series out of Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner, the predator “would have to start using things that don’t exist in the desert, so he orders something from this Acme company [that] can supply any absolutely insane thing that somebody might want.” Incidentally, Coyote v. Acme won’t be the first time the furry brown predator has brought about a suit. In a 1996 New Yorker satire piece, his attorney argued: “Mr. Coyote states that on eighty-five separate occasions, he has purchased of the Acme Company … certain products which did cause him bodily injury.” A Weighty Proposition Acme's anvil remains the most famous of its products. The Acme brand name came from animator Chuck Jones (1), who worked at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and '40s. Though the Acme anvil (2) is the coyote's preferred hunting tool, the company makes everything from satellites (3) to bird seed (4). In more recent episodes, Acme had gotten into the movie business (5) and, finally, put its voluminous catalog online for easier coyote ordering (6). Browngardt still remembers a special gift he received a few years ago from a departing staffer. “He bought me an Acme anvil as a kitsch gift,” he said. Of all the preposterous products sold by Acme, the anvil remains the most famous. The coyote has found innumerable ways to drop the metalworking block on the Road Runner, only to wind up beneath it himself. In fact, there was once (briefly) an Acme company that made anvils at the turn of the last century. As for Browngardt, “this gigantic thing that weighs so much” is still in his office.

Perspective

How Warner Bros. Built a Fake Brand That Lives Beyond the Cartoon World

The story behind Acme, the best-known brand that never existed

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara