Mainzelmännchen
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The Mainzelmännchen are six comedic cartoon characters used as mascots for German public service television broadcaster ZDF. They first aired on television in 1963 as a way to accommodate a government regulation disallowing confusion between advertising and content. The cartoon characters served as a transition between the two.[1]
They appear in between ads during broadcast, in roughly three to five second clips, and often during the satirical news program Heute-show. The name is a combination Mainz, headquarters for ZDF, and Heinzelmännchen, a type of gnome common in folklore surrounding the city of Cologne. Wolf Gerlach created the characters.[2][3]
The Mainzelmännchen have become quite popular across Germany. Radio dramas have been created surrounding them, as well as children's books, and numerous other kinds of merchandise.
Appearance and Actions
The Mainzelmännchen are either
References
- ^ "Who are those Cartoon Men on German TV? The Mainzelmännchen!!!". A German Girl in America. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
- ^ "Die Mainzelmännchen". www.zdf.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-18.
- ^ "ZDF Werbefernsehen: Die Mainzelmännchen". www.zdf-werbefernsehen.de. Retrieved 2020-05-18.