{{short description|Advertising character}} thumb|Little Mikey in the original 1972 Life cereal ad '''Little Mikey''' is a fictional boy played by John Gilchrist (born February 2, 1968) in an American television commercial promoting Quaker Oats' breakfast cereal Life. The ad was created by art director Bob Gage, who also directed the commercial.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ravo |first=Nick |date=April 8, 2000 |title=Robert Gage, 78, Art Director; Had a Role in Well-Known Ads |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/08/business/robert-gage-78-art-director-had-a-role-in-well-known-ads.html |access-date=August 15, 2010}}</ref> It first aired in 1972. The popular ad campaign featuring Mikey remained in regular rotation for more than 12 years and was one of the longest continuously running commercial campaigns.<ref name="McS">{{Cite news |last=Spitznagel |first=Eric |title=Mikey: An Investigation |work=Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern |url=http://mcsweeneys.net/2002/10/07mikey.html |url-status=dead |access-date=February 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610224045/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2002/10/07mikey.html |archive-date=June 10, 2007}}</ref><ref name="QuakerPR">{{Cite press release |title=Press release |date=January 1, 2000 |url=http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.cfm?ID=119 |website=Quaker Oats}}</ref>

==Original commercial== The commercial centers on three young brothers eating breakfast. Before them sits a heaping bowl of Life breakfast cereal. Two of the brothers question each other about the cereal, prodding each other to try it and noting that it is supposed to be healthy. Neither boy has any desire to taste it ("I'm not gonna try it—''you'' try it!"), so they get their younger brother Mikey to do so ("Let's get Mikey"), noting that "he hates everything". Mikey briefly contemplates the bowl and after tasting the cereal, begins to eat it vigorously as the brothers exclaim, "He likes it! Hey Mikey!" Mikey's brothers were played by Gilchrist's actual brothers, Michael (on the left in the spot) and Tommy.<ref name="OrlandoSentinelJG">{{Cite news |date=December 9, 1986 |title=Mikey Life Cereal actor: John Gilchrist |work=Orlando Sentinel |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1986/12/09/mikey-comes-back-to-life-and-he-still-likes-it/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621012358/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-12-09/lifestyle/0280070073_1_mikey-life-cereal-john-gilchrist |archive-date=June 21, 2013}}</ref> John is the middle child of seven children born to Tom and Pat Gilchrist of the Bronx.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}.

==Reception== The commercial was very popular and won a Clio Award in 1974.<ref name="Slotnik">{{Cite news |last=Slotnik |first=Daniel E. |date=December 15, 2011 |title=Edie Stevenson Dies at 81; Wrote 'Let's Get Mikey' Ad |page=A32 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/business/media/edie-stevenson-dies-at-81-wrote-lets-get-mikey-ad.html |access-date=March 4, 2022}}</ref> It has often been included in retrospectives of classic television ads. In 1999, ''TV Guide'' ranked it the No. 10 commercial of all time.<ref name="TVG">{{Cite magazine |date=July 3, 1999 |title=The 50 Greatest Commercials of All Time |magazine=TV Guide}}</ref> Despite its age, a 1999 survey found that 70% of adults could identify the spot based on just a "brief generic description."<ref name="Forbes">{{Cite press release |title=Strategic Equity Assessment for Life Cereal |date=August 1, 1999 |publisher=Forbes Consulting Group |url=http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.cfm?ID=119}}</ref>

==Sequels== A series of "Today's Mikey" ads aired in the 1980s, with Gilchrist bemusedly reprising the character as a college student.{{cn|date=July 2020}}

In 1996, Quaker Oats commissioned director Rick Schulze, of Industrial Light & Magic Commercial Productions, to digitally composite a bottle of Snapple, then a subsidiary of Quaker Oats, into the original Life ad, via longtime Snapple ad agency Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York. This time, however, in an ironic twist, Mikey likes some of the product's flavors while disliking the others.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Nashawaty |first=Chris |date=April 9, 1996 |title=Coming Back to Life |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,292150,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427110155/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,292150,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2009 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |issue=323 |access-date=August 15, 2010}}</ref>

Life's ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, in Chicago, revived the Mikey character for two campaigns in the late 1990s. In 1997, Quaker Oats initiated a nationwide search for the "next Mikey", settling on 4-year-old Marli Hughes out of more than 35,000 applicants.<ref name="New">{{Cite web |title=Life Cereal Brand History |url=http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_PressRoom/BrandInfo/BrandDetail.cfm?BrandID=8&section=brandhistory |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522112836/http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_PressRoom/BrandInfo/BrandDetail.cfm?BrandID=8&section=brandhistory |archive-date=May 22, 2006 |access-date=March 4, 2022 |website=Quaker Oats}}</ref> She also appeared in a TV commercial, "Better Life" directed by Howard Rose, where she is seen telling her classmates how she won the contest and traveled to New York to do some TV shows. She adds that as the new Mikey she gets to eat as much Life cereal as she wants.<ref name="Adweek">{{Cite news |last=Hume |first=Scott |date=January 19, 1998 |title=Hey Mikey! Meet Marli |work=Adweek |url=https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/hey-mikey-meet-marli-42004/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212152418/https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/hey-mikey-meet-marli-42004/ |archive-date=December 12, 2018}}</ref>

In 1999, Quaker Oats remade the commercial word for word with an all-adult cast acting like kids. Mikey is portrayed by New York-based actor Jimmy Starace.<ref name="CNN">{{Cite interview |last=Gilchrist |first=John |interviewer=Jeanne Moos |title=World Today: Life Cereal Brings Back Mikey Commercial -- Sort of |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0001/17/wt.08.html |access-date=March 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402195836/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0001/17/wt.08.html |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |url-status=dead |publisher=CNN |date=January 17, 2000}}</ref><ref name="SouthCoastToday">{{Cite news |date=January 23, 2000 |title=Remember Mikey? He's back |agency=Associated Press |url=http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-00/01-23-00/d01bu129.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=March 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627220907/http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-00/01-23-00/d01bu129.htm |archive-date=June 27, 2010}}</ref>

In 2024, Mikey was brought back in a commercial titled "Mikey's Morning". Played by Hudson Uebelhardt, he sings about his chaotic morning, which is made sweeter with a bowl of Life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guess who’s back? Mikey returns to Life Cereal with a new ad & a big love for life |url=https://www.thedrum.com/news/2024/09/12/guess-who-s-back-mikey-returns-life-cereal-with-new-ad-big-love-life |access-date=November 22, 2024 |website=The Drum}}</ref>

==Afterward== For many years, Mikey was the subject of an urban legend that purported that he had died after consuming Pop Rocks and Coke, supposedly causing a fatal stomach rupture.<ref name=Snopes>{{cite web |last1=Mikkelson |first1=Barbara |title=Did Pop Rocks and Soda Kill 'Little Mikey'? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pop-rocks-soda/ |website=Snopes |language=en |date=July 31, 2000}}</ref> In fact, the actor who played Mikey, John Gilchrist, is still alive as of March 2026. ''Snopes'' later reported that the combination of Pop Rocks and Coke would do little more than produce a "hearty belch".<ref name=Snopes/>

According to Gilchrist, the legend became so widespread that his own mother received a phone call from another woman to offer condolences for the death of her son, to which Mrs. Gilchrist replied, "He just came home from school!"<ref name = Snopes/><ref name = Newsday/>

In 2011, Gilchrist became the director of media sales for MSG Network.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gilchrist |first1=John |title=John Gilchrist |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilchrist-655b707/ |website=LinkedIn |access-date=January 9, 2024}}</ref> He has said that he has no clear memories of filming the original commercial since he was only three and a half years old.<ref name=Newsday>{{Cite news |last=Best |first=Neal |date=November 22, 2012 |title=John Gilchrist, who played "Mikey" in TV ad, still likes it after all these years |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newsday.com/sports/media/john-gilchrist-who-played-mikey-in-life-cereal-commercial-still-likes-it-after-all-these-years-o80557 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512030002/https://www.newsday.com/sports/media/john-gilchrist-who-played-mikey-in-life-cereal-commercial-still-likes-it-after-all-these-years-1.4253447 |url-status=live |archive-date=2014-05-12 |access-date=July 3, 2014}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==

{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns |publisher=Gale |year=1999 |isbn=0-7876-3042-X |editor-last=Riggs |editor-first=Thomas |location=Detroit [etc.] |chapter=MIKEY Campaign |chapter-url=http://www.jiffynotes.com/a_study_guides/book_notes_add/emmc_0001_0001_0/emmc_0001_0001_0_00240.html#MIKEY_Campaign}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|1965418|John Gilchrist Jr.}}

Category:Quaker Oats Company characters Category:American television advertisements Category:Mascots introduced in 1972 Category:Male characters in advertising Category:Child characters in advertising Category:1970s television advertisements