6 Facts You Need To Know About The Infamous Arby's Oven Mitt
Fast food is a hyper-competitive world, and all the big national or global chains will do whatever it takes to differentiate themselves from the places that sell similar tasty food served up fast and cheap. And often marketing can make all the difference. One particularly utilized method of marketing, especially in decades past: Appeal to younger consumers and be entertaining in the form of advertising mascots. Some fast food characters have grown into icons or modern mythological figures, like Ronald McDonald of McDonald's, the actual Burger King of Burger King, and the Noid of Domino's. Others fade into obscurity after failing to catch on, as if they never even had a chance with the general public, or failing to move enough product to merit their marketing costs.
Historically, roast beef purveyor Arby's has only tentatively dealt in the advertising mascot sphere, most notably (and notoriously) with a talking, smiling, and wisecracking oven mitt. Its name? Oven Mitt. Its tenure as the face of Arby's was extraordinarily brief. Here's the story of the rise and fall of that infamous oven mitt named Oven Mitt.
The Oven Mitt was supposed to save Arby's
In late 2002, Arby's endured a significant sales slump. According to The New York Times, the chain's more upscale and expensive line of roast beef and premium sandwiches was losing ground to fast food competitors' cheaper, deeply discounted value options. The company realized that its marketing plan just wasn't working. Since 2001, Arby's had utilized a campaign called "Appetite Man," including commercials that called attention to specific menu items with sultry narration provided by the uncredited but very recognizable voice of deep-throated soul singer Barry White. "'They didn't move the needle for us,” John Lauck, then president of the Arby's Franchise Association, said about the commercials. ”The focus was that Arby's was designed for adult fast food tastes, but it didn't break through, and didn't capture the attention of consumers."
So Arby's decided to go broader. The company spent $85 million on a national advertising campaign launched by agency W.B. Doner and Company in February 2003. The centerpiece of it all was a traditional fast food mascot singing the praises of the restaurant chain's products, a sentient oven mitt named Oven Mitt. It was nontraditional, The New York Times pointed out and warned, in that it was human-like but not actually human. Other fast food companies like KFC and Domino's had flopped hard with ads built around odd, non-human characters like a sassy cartoon Colonel Sanders and a mischievous monkey puppet named Bad Andy, respectively.
The Oven Mitt was the result of extensive market research
The real reason why Arby's elected to use a cartoon oven mitt for its advertising mascot is because it helps establish a brand identity for the company. Arby's wanted to demonstrate its uniqueness in the marketplace — as it's not a burger joint like so many of its competitors, but a seller of sandwiches. And not the submarine style like other fast food players, including Subway. An oven mitt, a kitchen tool used to retrieve pans full of freshly roasted beef from an oven, strongly suggested to consumers that Arby's uniquely oven-cooked its meat on the premises. "It took them back to a time that was more honest, more trusting," Arby's then president Michael Howe told The New York Times. "This is something we've always provided to consumers ... Now we're putting it in a fun, exciting, modern communication."
In addition to promoting oven-roasting as a concept, Arby's developed Oven Mitt to be a face of the company. Market research demonstrated that the general public had no real strong opinions or impressions about Arby's. ”With other burger chains, people came up with a lot of descriptors, but with Arby's it was, 'Gee, I don't know.' If we did get comments, it was, 'boring,' 'dated,'" John Lauck, then president of the Arby's Franchise Association, noted to The New York Times. "We were a brand that had fallen off the radar screen.” The Oven Mitt gave Arby's the attention and focus it wanted.
The world of the Arby's Oven Mitt was wacky and wild
The television commercials starring Oven Mitt played more like short and silly comedy sketches with an Arby's theme than they did the typical, more direct product-pitching ads typically utilized by the roast beef sandwich chain.
In one TV ad, Oven Mitt hangs from a hook on the wall in an Arby's kitchen, reminding staff to "respect the oven and the oven mitt." The ad then flashes back to the day prior, when Oven Mitt was traumatically pinned under a roasting pan. An ad promoting the Italian Beef 'N Provolone sandwich features Oven Mitt belts out the old Italian standard "Volare." In another ad, Oven Mitt talks a couple of coworkers into letting him ride in a car, with one of them wearing him and holding him up through the sunroof so he can re-enact the "I'm king of the world!" bit from "Titanic." It ends with Oven Mitt comically flying off in the wind. Another commercial finds Oven Mitt commenting on the delicious smell of Arby's roast beef, before he realizes he doesn't have a nose, freaks out, and dons a pair of Groucho glasses. He then panics again when he figures out he doesn't have ears to hold up the novelty specs. And in an ad for the Triple Cheese 'n Bacon sandwiches, Oven Mitt creates a clone army of himself.
Tom Arnold voiced the Arby's Oven Mitt
Once Arby's and its advertising agency, W.B. Doner and Company, had decided on the purpose, look, and concept of the Oven Mitt character, they set out to find the perfect actor to give it a voice in what could have been an indefinitely running string of numerous commercials. According to The New York Times, Arby's listened to and auditioned many celebrities with recognizable voices as well as non-famous people. "None of the voices we considered captured the image of Oven Mitt," said John Lauck, then president of the Arby's Franchise Association. The one that finally worked was Tom Arnold, at the time was best known as a stand-up comic, tabloid headline-grabbing ex-husband of Roseanne Barr, and host of Fox Sports late-night comedy show "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." Arby's didn't really care about Arnold's celebrity; they simply liked his voice, and thought that it fit for both the Oven Mitt character and the vibe of the campaign. During the Oven Mitt campaign, Arnold's involvement wasn't overtly noted or advertised.
The Arby's Oven Mitt leaves a lasting legacy
Comedian Tom Arnold landed the gig of voicing the Arby's Oven Mitt, but it didn't turn out to be a long-term or particularly work-heavy gig. Arby's only ever produced a handful of commercials requiring Arnold's services bringing a happy-go-lucky, accident prone Oven Mitt to life before the company abandoned the campaign.
Arnold has endured praise and criticism for playing Oven Mitt more than a decade after the fact. In 2014, Arnold brought it up in an interview with F News Magazine, and in 2019, he rerouted a Twitter conversation with CNN personality Bill Weir about President Donald Trump into a recollection of his Arby's days after Weir jokingly referenced the fast food chain. "Don't dis The Arby's Oven Mitt over here Weir!! I will kick your a**! Ok I will thumb you," Arnold joked. He then casually revealed that he was handsomely rewarded for his efforts in giving the Oven Mitt a character, a personality, and a speaking voice adding, "I get free Arby's for LIFE ... my ace in the hole." And according to Money Inc, he negotiated a contract clause that Arby's would arrange for him to dive into a swimming pool filled with milkshakes — apparently the amount the chain sells in a month.
The Arby's Oven Mitt only lasted two years
In 2004, Arby's launched a national plan to raise awareness of the Oven Mitt character, which also promoted its food and helped out a charitable organization in the process, according to Chief Marketer. More than 3,400 Arby's locations oven mitts made to look just like the smiling Oven Mitt from the company's commercials. Arby's encouraged customers to take funny and amusing vacation-style photos of their Oven Mitt, which cost $1.99, with $1 of that allocated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Unfortunately, in November 2004, Arby's-associated marketing firm Agency Strottman International uncovered "quality concerns" with the item in tandem with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and issued a recall. Anyone who bought an Oven Mitt was strongly encouraged to return it to any Arby's outlet to receive a full refund.
A massive recall of a brand-promoting novelty item proved the last straw and the last stand for Oven Mitt. In February 2005, according to AdWeek, Arby's officially hung up the Oven Mitt and the entire campaign. The fast food company moved away from its association with the W.B. and Doner advertising agency and signed up with Merkley + Partners. They abandoned the whole Oven Mitt package (including the "What Are You Eating Today?" tagline) in favor of a new approach, one that we still recognize today — a red line that formed the cowboy hat from Arby's traditional signage and the slogan, "I'm thinking Arby's."