Editing Jack in the Box (section)

==Advertising==
{{more citations needed|section|date=November 2017}}
The restaurant rebounded in popularity in 1994 after a highly successful marketing campaign that featured the fictitious Jack in the Box chairman [[Jack Box|Jack]] character (formerly voiced by the campaign's creator [[Rick Sittig]]), the mascot who has a [[ping pong]] ball-like [[head]], a yellow clown cap, two blue eyes, a pointy black nose, and a linear red smile that changes with his emotions, and is dressed in a business suit.

Jack was reintroduced specifically to signal the new direction the company was taking to refocus and regroup after the [[1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak|1993'' E. coli'' disaster]], discussed below, which threatened the chain's very existence. In the original spot that debuted in fall 1994, Jack ("through the miracle of [[plastic surgery]]", he says as he confidently strides into the office building) reclaims his rightful role as founder and CEO, and apparently as revenge for being blown up in 1980, approaches the closed doors of the Jack in the Box boardroom (a fictionalized version, shown while the aforementioned minimalist theme music from the 1980s Jack in the Box commercials plays), activates a detonation device, and the boardroom explodes in a shower of smoke, wood, and paper. The spot ends with a close-up shot of a small, white, paper bag, presumably filled with Jack in the Box food, dropping forcefully onto a table; the bag is printed with the words "Jack's Back" in bold red print, then another bag drops down with the Jack in the Box logo from that period. Later ads feature the first bag showing the text of the food item or offer the commercial is promoting (both bags have featured text since 1998). The Spanish ads feature an unknown voice shouting "Jack!" before another bag drops down.

The [[Television advertisement|commercials]] in the "Jack's Back" campaign (which has won several advertising industry awards) tend to be lightly [[humorous]] and often involve Jack making business decisions about the restaurant chain's food products, or out in the field getting ideas for new menu items. While a series of ads claiming to ask when [[Burger King]] and [[McDonald's]] will change their ways about making their hamburgers featured a phone number, the caller used to be a recording of Jack himself (as of 2019, the number is a sex hotline). In addition, many commercials have advertised free car antenna balls with every meal, thus increasing brand awareness. Often, different types of antenna balls were available during a holiday or major event or themed toward a sports team local to the restaurant. The antenna balls have since been discontinued due to the demise of the mast-type car antenna.
[[Image:Jack Ball.jpg|thumb|right|Popular Jack antenna ball (Christmas version)]]
[[Image:Jackinthebox.jpg|right|thumb|Jack in the Box restaurant in [[Willits, California]]]]

During the height of the now-defunct [[XFL (2001)|XFL]], one of the continuing ad series involved a fictitious professional [[American football]] team owned by Jack. The team, called the Carnivores, played against teams such as the Tofu Eaters and the Vegans.

In 1997, a successful advertising campaign was launched using a fictional musical group called the Spicy Crispy Girls (a take-off of the [[Spice Girls]], a [[British pop music]] [[girl group]] - at the time one of the most popular groups in the world), in comedic national television commercials. The commercials were used to promote the new Jack in the Box Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich (now known as Jack's Spicy Chicken), with the girls dancing in "the Jack groove." The Spicy Crispy Girls concept was used as a model for another successful advertising campaign called the 'Meaty Cheesy Boys' to promote the Ultimate Cheeseburger in 1999-2001 (see below).<ref>{{cite web |title=Other Works for Lisa Joann Thompson |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1048341/otherworks |publisher=IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=TV Spots and Commercial|title=Jack in the Box, Spicy Crispy Chicks|url=http://www.tvspots.tv/search/detailed/1/?sort=viewnum&search_type=&search_id=silver-lion| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113090327/http://www.tvspots.tv/search/detailed/1/?sort=viewnum&search_type=&search_id=silver-lion|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 13, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=TV Spots and Commercials|title=Wholesale TV Spots| url=http://www.tvspots.tv/search/detailed/?search_id=wholesale|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113213813/http://www.tvspots.tv/search/detailed/?search_id=wholesale|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 13, 2013|publisher=TV Spots}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |work=Jack in the Box Commercials Archive |title=Spicy Crispy Chicks |url=http://www.advertolog.com/jack-in-the-box/adverts/spicy-crispy-chicks-498255/ |publisher=AvertToLog |date=January 1998 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |access-date=May 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113090325/http://www.advertolog.com/jack-in-the-box/adverts/spicy-crispy-chicks-498255/ |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
At the 1998 Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show, one of the Spicy Crispy Girls commercials won the top award for humor.<ref>{{citation |last=Millie |first=Takaki |title=Top honor roll at AICP Show |url=  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Art & Technique of the American Commercial |url=http://www.aicpshow.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610145434/http://www.aicpshow.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 10, 2007 |publisher=AICP Show Awards }}</ref>

The Meaty Cheesy Boys, a mock [[boy band]] to promote the Ultimate Cheeseburger, were created in 1999 during an ad campaign featuring an out-of-control advertising executive previously fired by Jack. The boy band would eventually perform their hit "Ultimate Cheeseburger" at the [[Billboard Music Awards|1999 Billboard Music Awards]]. The same ad exec featured in a 2001 spot where a medical doctor made exaggerated claims of the benefits of fast food that it would cure baldness, help trim extra pounds, and remove wrinkles. Jack asks the ad exec incredulously, "Where did you find this guy?" The ad exec responds proudly, "Tobacco company."

In 2000, an ad involved a man washed up on a remote island with only a Jack in the Box antenna ball as a companion. Later that year, director [[Robert Zemeckis]], claiming the agency had appropriated elements of his [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-nominated film ''[[Cast Away]]'' for the ad, had his lawsuit against the ad agency thrown out.

In April 2006, Jack in the Box launched an ad campaign called Bread is Back,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.breadisback.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051026011921/http://www.breadisback.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 26, 2005 |title=Jack In The Box |publisher=Breadisback.com |access-date=November 6, 2012 }}</ref> taking a stab at the [[low-carbohydrate diet]]s of recent years.

In 2006, Jack in the Box took the use of this perception creating a commercial featuring a typical [[stoner (drug user)|stoner]] who is indecisive about ordering. When faced with a decision, the Jack in the Box figurine in his car tells him to "stick to the classics" and order 30 tacos, implying that he has the "[[Munchies (food craving)|munchies]]". This ad later stirred up controversy among a San Diego teen group who claimed that the ad was irresponsible showing a teenager who was under the influence of drugs. To protest, they presented the company with 2000 postcards protesting the ad, despite the fact that it had not aired since the beginning of the previous month. This commercial was redone in 2009 to feature the new logo and the new campaign.

Another ad touting the chain's milkshakes aired in 2001 and was shot in the stilted style of a 1970s-era antidrug spot, urging kids to "say no to fake shakes" and featured "Larry the Crime Donkey," a parody of [[McGruff the Crime Dog]].

In 2007, Jack in the Box began a commercial campaign for their new 100% [[sirloin]] beef hamburgers, implying that they were of higher quality than the [[Angus beef]] used by [[Carl's Jr.]], [[Hardee's]], [[Wendy's]], and [[Burger King]]. That May, [[CKE Restaurants, Inc.]], the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, filed a lawsuit against Jack in the Box, Inc. CKE claimed, among other things, that the commercials tried to give the impression that Carl's Jr./Hardee's Angus beef hamburgers contained cow [[anus]]es by having an actor swirl his finger in the air in a circle while saying "Angus" in one commercial and having other people in the second commercial laugh when the word "Angus" was mentioned. They also attacked Jack in the Box's claim that sirloin, a cut found on all cattle, was of higher quality than Angus beef, which is a breed of cattle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack in the Box Ads Called Misleading |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3215032 |first=Gary |last=Gentile |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=May 25, 2007}}</ref>

=== Logo ===
[[File:JackInTheBoxLogo.svg|upright=0.75|thumb|Jack in the Box logo from March 2, 1980, to March 14, 2009]]
[[File:Jack in the Box 2009 logo.svg|upright=0.75|thumb|This Jack in the Box logo used from March 15, 2009, to October 3, 2022, is still used as a secondary logo, and at most locations.]]
One variation has a miniature clown hat (dating back to October 1977) with three dots in the upper left-hand corner; the clown head was removed in 1980. In October 1977, the clown head was in a red box all by itself, with the company name either below or next to the box; signs in front of the restaurants had the clown head only. The "clown head" can be seen on several [[YouTube]] videos depicting Jack in the Box commercials from the 1970s and 1980s. Most Jack in the Box locations opened before late 2008 had this logo, although the chain has been replacing them with the newer logo throughout the 2010s, along with general updating of their decor. Some locations continue to use this logo as their "Open/Closed" sign.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}