# Mr. Butts > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mr._Butts > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mr._Butts.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Butts > Source revision: 1327826800 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use American English|date=August 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox comics character |image = mrbutts.jpg |caption = |character_name = Mr. Butts |publisher = [Universal Press Syndicate](/source/Universal_Press_Syndicate) |debut = |creators = [Garry Trudeau](/source/Garry_Trudeau) |alter_ego = |alliances = |aliases = |supports = |powers = }} '''Mr. Butts''' is a character in [Garry Trudeau](/source/Garry_Trudeau)'s [comic strip](/source/comic_strip) ''[Doonesbury](/source/Doonesbury)''. When [Mike Doonesbury](/source/Mike_Doonesbury) was asked to create an [ad campaign](/source/Advertising_campaign) aimed at teenage smokers, he suffered a morality crisis, and the hallucinatory Mr. Butts was the result. An eight-foot-tall (2.5 meter) [cigarette](/source/cigarette) with a goofy smile, Mr. Butts is the [anthropomorphic personification](/source/anthropomorphic_personification) of the [tobacco industry](/source/tobacco_industry). Stylistically he is reminiscent of [Zap Comix](/source/Zap_Comix), as pointed out by [J. J.](/source/J._J._(Doonesbury)) when first described to her by Mike. At first "Buttsy" only appeared in Mike's dreams, and he took them as a sign of his morality rebelling. But ''Doonesbury'' often bends the line between fantasy and reality, and it was not long before Mr. Butts was being treated as a real person, interacting with other characters and even testifying before Congress for the [Tobacco Institute](/source/Tobacco_Institute). Butts seems to have a very naïve personality when it comes to the product he represents. He honestly cannot see that there is any [connection between cigarettes and cancer](/source/Smoking_and_cancer), downplays the effect of [nicotine addiction](/source/Nicotine_dependence), and he is fully convinced that smoking will help make kids cool. He usually treats his appearances as [public service announcements](/source/public_service_announcements), addressing the audience directly to tell them "good news" about the tobacco industry. In the real world, Mr. Butts has appeared in an animated anti-smoking commercial (voiced by [Billy West](/source/Billy_West)), the third television appearance of a ''Doonesbury'' character after the animated special aired in 1977 and the ''[Larry King Live](/source/Larry_King_Live)'' appearance of [Duke](/source/Uncle_Duke) on 2000-03-13.{{cite web |title=A Doonesbury Special (Short 1977) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075953/ |website=IMDb |access-date=August 20, 2021}}{{cite web |date=March 31, 2000 |title=Larry King Live: Duke of 'Doonesbury' Declares His Presidential Candidacy |url=http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/13/lkl.00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011125173826/http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/13/lkl.00.html |archive-date=November 25, 2001 |access-date=August 20, 2021 |website=CNN}} He also appeared on hundreds of trashcans on [Santa Monica, California's](/source/Santa_Monica%2C_California) beaches as part of that city's awareness promotion of their new [anti-smoking ordinance](/source/Smoking_ban) in August 2005.{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Ann K. |title=No Butts About It: City Launches Campaign to Curb Smoking on the Beach |url=https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2005/August-2005/08_10_05_No_Butts_About_It.htm |access-date=August 20, 2021 |work=The LookOut News |date=August 10, 2005 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240801093240/https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2005/August-2005/08_10_05_No_Butts_About_It.htm |archive-date=August 1, 2024 |url-status=live}} Mr. Butts is sometimes accompanied by Mr. Jay, a large [marijuana joint](/source/Joint_(cannabis)), along with Mr. Dum Dum (a large [bullet](/source/bullet) personifying the [National Rifle Association of America](/source/National_Rifle_Association_of_America)), and Mr. Brewski (a large beer can personifying the [liquor](/source/liquor) industry). Trudeau often uses the appearances of these sidekicks to illustrate his own viewpoints on the [legalization of marijuana](/source/Legality_of_cannabis). In addition, with the rising of [vaping](/source/vaping), there is also [Juul](/source/Juul)y, a giant [electronic cigarette](/source/electronic_cigarette), who cheerfully models herself on Mr. Butts. {{cite news |last1=Henry |first1=Peter |title=Tornado Vape |url=https://tornadovape.net/ |access-date=24 December 2024}} Mr. Butts was also a [pseudonym](/source/pseudonym) (inspired by the ''Doonesbury'' character) of a then-[anonymous](/source/Anonymity) [informant](/source/informant) who in 1995 sent 4,000 pages of incriminating [Brown & Williamson](/source/Brown_%26_Williamson) tobacco company documents to researcher [Stanton Glantz](/source/Stanton_Glantz). The documents were used extensively in litigation against the tobacco industry and were the basis of the book ''[The Cigarette Papers](/source/The_Cigarette_Papers)''.{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Mark |title=Tilting at Tobacco |journal=Stanford Magazine |date=1996 |issue=November/December |url=https://stanfordmag.org/contents/tilting-at-tobacco |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110211923/https://stanfordmag.org/contents/tilting-at-tobacco |archive-date=November 10, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=K. M. |last2=Pollay |first2=R. W. |title=Exposing Mr Butts' tricks of the trade |journal=Tobacco Control |date=March 1, 2002 |volume=11 |issue=suppl 1 |pages=i1–i4 |doi=10.1136/tc.11.suppl_1.i1 |pmid=11893809 |url=http://tc.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/11/suppl_1/i1 |language=en |issn=0964-4563|pmc=1766064 }} ==References== {{Doonesbury}} Category:Doonesbury characters Category:Tobacco advertising --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mr. Butts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Butts) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Butts?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.