John ‘Jack’ Keil died on August 25 at age 94. He was the creator of McGruff the Crime Dog
The advertising executive and voice behind the cartoon character McGruff the Crime Dog in the 1980s has died.
The family of John ‘Jack’ Keil says he died aged 94 on August 25 at his home in Westminster West, Vermont.
In 1980, he and his team at the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency created McGruff the Crime Dog.
The cartoon was part of an effort to increase crime awareness in the U.S.. It used the slogan ‘Take a Bite Out of Crime’.
The beloved animated hound dressed in a trench coat with a human body is still used in public service campaigns around the country today.
During his career in advertising, Keil also created other iconic ad campaigns such as Kellog’s ‘Cuckoo for CoCoa Puffs’ bird and Toyota’s memorable ‘You asked for it, you got it’ campaign.
John ‘Jack’ Keil was the advertising executive and creative lead in charge of creating McGruff the Crime Dog after the government asked for a campaign that would get the public more involved in crime prevention in the late 1970s
The animated hound in a trench coat was inspired by Smokey the Bear, another famous public service campaign character
Keil was one of the giants in the advertising industry and shared his talents to support crime prevention, The National Crime Prevention Council said.
The Ad Council was approached by the Department of Justice in 1977 to create a campaign to engage the public in reducing crime.
The FBI recommended a campaign playing on fears to convince citizens to take personal safety steps, but the Ad Council believed it would largely be ignored by an already frightened public.
The Ad Council gave the creative responsibilities to Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, lead by creative director Keil.
Focus group research found that the public believed police should be the ones to prevent crime.
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample recommended a campaign that would encourage the public to take a more active, personal role in preventing crime.
Keil was inspired by Smokey the Bear when he decided on an animal mascot.
President Ronald Reagan met the beloved character during Crime Prevention Week in 1984
A photo shows Keil, right, goofing off with a friend whilst wearing fake eyebrows and a mustache with large glasses and a top hat
Keil wrote two books, ‘The Creative Mystique’ and ‘How to Zig in a Zagging World’.
His friends and family knew him as Jolly. He loved to play tennis, paint, run, watch football, tell stories, and mow his fields in Vermont.
The lifelong lover of jazz music spent recent years performing with the Butterfly Swing Band.
A 1980s television show called Webster featured McGruff as a guest star for an episode where one of the characters discovers that someone is stealing people’s lunches
In April 2016 McGruff greeted fans as he rode down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Emancipation Parade in Washington, DC
In August of 2016 McGruff hugs a little girl during a charity event in Roanoke, Virginia