Original Energizer Bunny, #5 on AdAge all-time list, readies for public auction, April 10

More than two feet tall; one of America’s top advertising icons expected to bring $20,000+ at Heritage Auctions Beverly Hills, April 10

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- Talk about an advertising icon with legs – or, in this case, tracks. One of the original four Energizer Bunnies – and one of the two that was in the majority of Energizer commercials prior to retirement around 2000 – will be sold at Heritage Auction Galleries Beverly Hills as part of the company’s April 10 Signature® Entertainment Auction. It comes with the original custom made cases for both the Bunny and the three controllers. It is expected to bring $20,000+.

The pink bunny with sunglasses – 25 inches from feet to ears and almost a foot-and-a-half across – a drum and blue and black flip-flops became instantly recognizable to consumers since the minute it was introduced in 1989, and has since been named by AdAge.com as #5 on the list of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the 20^th Century.

“This is no less than an original Energizer Bunny,” said Doug Norwine, Director of Music & Entertainment Auctions at Heritage, “created by Academy Award-nominated special effects artist Eric Allard and his company All Effects. You want to talk about going and going and going? To occupy the same space as other advertising symbols like The Marlboro Man, Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Dough-boy and The Michelin Man, among the few, is rarified company indeed.”

The consignor of The Energizer Bunny, a well-known Los Angeles collector who wishes to remain anonymous, has had the little pink dynamo in his collection since acquiring it directly from the inventor, Eric Allard, around 2000. He understands the Pop Culture importance of the piece, and is excited about offering it to the general public.

"My mouth dropped open when I first saw it operate,” the consignor said. “It's like seeing a cartoon character come to life."

The bunny still runs as it did in its heyday, which means that you would need three people to operate it in its full glory: the head is on a gimbal, allowing for full range of the motion for the head; the arms bang the drum and move up over its head; drumsticks spin in its hands; his ears move backwards and forwards, the feet march and it moves in all directions, and spins on its axis, on tracks.

In fact, the consignor is in the process of getting the bunny back in shape so that it is every bit as nimble and energetic as collectors – and consumers – would expect it to be.

“It still works perfectly well,” Norwine said. “It just hasn’t been charged up and run for several years. It won’t take long, though, to have running exactly as it was before.”

For the original ad campaign Energizer had Allard and All Effects create four original animatronic bunnies. Each one was given a letter of the alphabet as identification – A, B, C and D – and a nickname to go with it. The present example, nicknamed “Clint,” is identified as such on the case, obviously making this Bunny C.

Bunnies A and B, made with wheels instead of tracks, were soon discovered to be impractical for use on film. In order to perform all the tasks it needed to in the commercials, tracks were built into bottom of Bunnies C and D, instead of wheels. The A and B examples were basically scrapped as commercial pieces and mined for parts for the remaining two, which split the majority of the commercial work.

There were indeed two other Energizer Bunnies created – one with a deep sea diving suit and one with an astronaut suit, both of which were directly sewn onto a mechanical bunny body – but neither possesses, or needs, the range and detail of motion that the two principle bunnies needed.

The Energizer Bunny became digital in commercials about five years ago before the company re-commissioned the mechanical bunnies for a new round of commercials within the last year. As far as the original examples go, however, collectors aren’t likely to get another chance any time soon. The ad campaign may keep going and going, but for this Energizer Bunny – one of the originals – it’s about to get a long deserved rest and a brand new home.

Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $600 million, and 500,000+ registered online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.

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