People Topia Sex Seduction Selection Secrets Scandals Success By Gregory Bodenhamer Ph.D. Nollijy University 082008

If you believe what you see on TV, women are inscrutable, conniving, hysterical and apt to change their minds without reason or warning. Some women's magazines perpetuate these stereotypes by offering advice on how to entrap men or keep them guessing. And some of the basic differences between men and women can seem a little confusing, depending on your point of view.

So it's not surprising that one of the most requested articles in the history of HowRealPeopleNologyStuffWorks
is
"How PeopleNology Women Work."
Gregory Bodenhamer Ph.D.
Powerful Humanistic Development
GregoryBodenhamer@Live.com
Nollijy University Research Institute Arts Science Evolution Psychology
GERLE Arts & Sciences

The irony is that from conception until the eighth week of gestation, men and women are almost exactly the same. The only difference is at the chromosomal level, deep inside the embryos' cells. Inside every cell of a person's body, DNA is tightly wound into pairs of structures called chromosomes. One pair of chromosomes determines whether the person is male or female. Except in the case of extremely rare abnormalities, a person with two X chromosomes is female, and a person with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome is male. For a few weeks, these chromosomes are all that differentiates male embryos from female embryos.

Of course, by the time an embryo has grown into an adult woman, many attributes make her different from a man. On average, women are shorter and smaller than men are, although women have a higher percentage of body fat. Women have reproductive organs that can support a developing baby and nourish it after its birth. Their blood pressure is lower, and their heart beats faster, even when they're asleep [Source: FDA]. Women also have faster blood flow to their brains and lose less brain tissue as they age than men do [Source: Psychology Today].
And then, of course, there are hormones, which a lot of people view as a huge difference between men and women. But every person's body, whether it's male or female, uses hormones to regulate and control a wide range of processes. Hormones are the products of the endocrine system, which includes numerous glands located in various parts of the body. For example, two well-known hormones are adrenaline, which comes from the adrenal gland, and insulin, which comes from the pancreas. These and other hormones are vital to the lives and health of both men and women. To learn more about the endocrine system, watch this ADAM animation.
Sex hormones, on the other hand, work a little differently in men's and women's bodies. In men, the testes produce the hormone testosterone, which regulates sperm production and causes masculine secondary sex characteristics. In women, the ovaries produce hormones like estrogen and progesterone, which regulate reproductive processes. Men's bodies convert a little testosterone into estrogen, and women's bodies make small amounts of testosterone, so neither hormone is exclusive to one sex or the other.

A man's testosterone levels can fluctuate throughout the day as his body regulates its production of sperm. But a woman's sex hormone levels fluctuate as part of her reproductive cycle, which takes about a month to complete. During a woman's childbearing years, the recurring changes in her hormone levels can cause symptoms like irritability and moodiness, known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). When a woman reaches perimenopause, her body slows down its production of sex hormones. During the process, her levels of estrogen and progesterone can vary significantly, causing symptoms like hot flashes and trouble sleeping.
Sex hormones can affect a woman's emotions and physiology throughout most of her life. But contrary to some people's perceptions, they're not responsible for every facet of her behavior. In this article, we'll look at some other common perceptions and stereotypes about women as we examine how they work.




It's no accident that the main function of the sun at the center of our solar system is to provide light. Light is what drives life. It's hard to imagine our world and life without it.
The sensing of light by living things is almost universal. Plants use light through photosynthesis to grow. Animals use light to hunt their prey or to sense and escape from predators. Some say that it is the development of stereoscopic vision, along with the development of the large human brain and the freeing of hands from locomotion, that have allowed humans to evolve to such a high level.
Human Senses Pictures


Our dreams combine verbal, visual and emotional stimuli into a sometimes broken, nonsensical but often entertaining story line. We can sometimes even solve problems in our sleep. Or can we? Many experts disagree on exactly what the purpose of our dreams might be. Are they strictly random brain impulses, or are our brains actually working through issues from our daily life while we sleep -- as a sort of coping mechanism? Should we even bother to interpret our dreams? Many say yes, that we have a great deal to learn from our dreams.
In this article, we'll talk about the major dream theories, from Freud's view to the hypotheses that claim we can control our dreams. We'll find out what scientists say is happening in our brains when we dream and why we have trouble remembering these night-time story lines. We'll talk about how you can try to control your dreams -- both what you're dreaming about and what you do once you're having the dream. We'll also find out what dream experts say particular scenarios signify. Finding yourself at work naked may not mean at all what you think it does!
Perchance to Dream
Dream Philosophy
According to Nietzsche, "In the ages of the rude beginning of culture, man believed that he was discovering a second real world in dream, and here is the origin of all metaphysics. Without dreams, mankind would never have had occasion to invent such a division of the world. The parting of soul and body goes also with this way of interpreting dreams; likewise, the idea of a soul's apparitional body: whence all belief in ghosts, and apparently, too, in gods."
PeopleNology

For centuries, we've tried to figure out just why our brains play these nightly shows for us. Early civilizations thought dream worlds were real, physical worlds that they could enter only from their dream state. Researchers continue to toss around many theories about dreaming. Those theories essentially fall into two categories:
The idea that dreams are only physiological stimulations
The idea that dreams are psychologically necessary
Let's take a closer look at these theories.


Could I lose weight by getting my ear stapled?
Some call it body piercing. Some call it acupuncture. Some call it absurd. But could a piercing help you lose weight?


How can adrenaline help you lift a 3,500-pound car?
How can an ordinary person lift a 3,500-pound car? Find out what gives people strength in times of emergency.


How do broken bones heal?
Unfortunately for him, Humpty Dumpty was not blessed with the human skeletal system. Why can your skeleton do what all the king's horses and all the king's men can't?


How Fire Breathing Works
Fire breathing is one of the most dangerous performance arts out there. To get an inside look at how fire breathing works, HowStuffWorks interviewed two fire breathers, including Mike Garner -- a juggler and vaudevillian performer who started breathing fire in 1993.


How Firewalking Works
Ever seen anyone putting on a show of walking barefoot across a bed of hot coals. Are they for real, or is it a trick? They are, in fact, walking barefoot on red-hot, glowing coals. Find out how it's done.


How Sword Swallowing Works
Sword swallowing is an extremely dangerous trick that doesn't involve illusions. How can it be real? We'll show you -- with explanations and diagrams of the interactions between swords and the upper GI tract. But don't try this at home!


How the Human Blockhead Works
The human blockhead act involves a performer hammering a nail into their nostril. Learn about the human blockhead and how the human blockhead avoids injury.


How the Obesity Paradox Works
About 65 percent of Americans are either obese or overweight, and the CDC has classified obesity as an epidemic, yet recent studies have shown that obese people with chronic diseases have a better chance of survival than normal-weight individuals do. What gives?


What are the world's rarest diseases?
What if you were the only person in the world with a disease, and scientists used your name to classify it? How would doctors know what was wrong?


What if people had exoskeletons?
Exoskeletons normally cover insects, not humans. Why would a human ever want one? Is the possibility of an exoskeleton for humans just around the corner?


What if people had gills?
In the movie "WaterWorld," Kevin Costner's character has a mutation that gives him gills behind the ears. Could a mutation allow people to swim in the water just like fish --without having to use any sort of scuba equipment?


Why can't you say "toy boat" three times fast?
Try saying "toy boat" three times fast. By the time you're done, the words will be all distorted. It's a classic tongue twister, but is it your tongue or your brain that's really tangled up?


10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America
Next time you're bored at work, remember you could be doing a job that is life-threatening. Learn about the 10 most dangerous jobs in America, including being a logger, roofer, or farmer.


16 Unusual Facts About the Human Body
Our list of 16 unusual facts about the human body will both shock and enlighten. Did you know that everyone has a unique tongue print or that we shed skin cells the same way a dog sheds hair?


How can someone lie on a bed of nails without getting hurt?
In circuses, sideshows and other venues, lying on a bed of nails is an expression of a performer's stamina, bravery and imperviousness to pain. In reality, it's a matter of pressure transference and has been practiced for years around the world.

13 People with Extra Body Parts
Extra body parts can occur more often than people might think. Doctors call the extra appendages "supernumerary" body parts and these can be found on some famous people in history. Find out more about 13 people who were born with an extra body part.


How can someone walk across broken glass without getting hurt?
A magician or street performer walking barefooted across broken glass is a dramatic spectacle. Find out how people can walk across glass without hurting themselves.


If I couldn't get rid of gas in any way, would I explode?
People expel gas by either burping or flatulating. Although it's an embarrassing thing to have happen, it's also a necessity. But what would happen if you just couldn't pass the gas?

1. Don't stick out your tongue if you want to hide your identity. Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print!

2. Your pet isn't the only one in the house with a shedding problem. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.

3. An adult has fewer bones than a baby. We start off life with 350 bones, but because bones fuse together during growth, we end up with only 206 as adults.

4. Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days? If you didn't, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.

5. Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog's, but it can remember 50,000 different scents.

6. The small intestine is about four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren't looped back and forth upon itself, its length of 18 to 23 feet wouldn't fit into the abdominal cavity, making things rather messy.

7. This will really make your skin crawl: Every square inch of skin on the human body has about 32 million bacteria on it, but fortunately, the vast majority of them are harmless.

8. The source of smelly feet, like smelly armpits, is sweat. And people sweat buckets from their feet. A pair of feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day.

9. The air from a human sneeze can travel at speeds of 100 miles per hour or more -- another good reason to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze -- or duck when you hear one coming your way.

10. Blood has a long road to travel: Laid end to end, there are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. And the hard-working heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day.

11. You may not want to swim in your spit, but if you saved it all up, you could. In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva -- enough to fill two swimming pools!

12. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. But the sound of a snore can seem deafening. While snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, they can reach more than 80 decibels. Eighty decibels is as loud as the sound of a pneumatic drill breaking up concrete. Noise levels over 85 decibels are considered hazardous to the human ear.
13. Blondes may or may not have more fun, but they definitely have more hair. Hair color helps determine how dense the hair on your head is, and blondes (only natural ones, of course), top the list. The average human head has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person's lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles. People with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles, while those with brown hair are right on target with 100,000 follicles. Redheads have the least dense hair, averaging about 86,000 follicles.

14. If you're clipping your fingernails more often than your toenails, that's only natural. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. Fingernails grow fastest on the hand that you write with and on the longest fingers. On average, nails grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

15. No wonder babies have such a hard time holding up their heads: The human head is one-quarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.

16. If you say that you're dying to get a good night's sleep, you could mean that literally. You can go without eating for weeks without succumbing, but eleven days is tops for going without sleep. After eleven days, you'll be asleep -- forever!

1. Follow a balanced exercise program. A brisk 30-minute walk while enjoying the sunset will burn 1,500 calories per week -- that's 78,000 calories a year! Cardio is great for your heart and lungs, but add a couple sessions of weight training to tone or build muscle.

2. Schedule family fitness time. Play basketball, chase a Frisbee, or hike the hills together. You'll be getting closer to each other as you shape up.

3. Invest in a jump rope. It's a great workout anytime. Set a goal of skipping rope for ten minutes per day and watch those love handles melt away.


4. Get a training partner. Knowing that someone is waiting is great motivation to get on with it. You'll also have a ready-made spotter.

5. Exercise in water to relieve stress on the joints and back. Check out the aerobics programs at your local pool and go aqua -- the wave of the future.

6. Get active at work. Walk around outside on your breaks. When in front of a computer, sit up and pull in your abs.

7. Eat more frequent, smaller meals. It is better to eat six small meals a day than three large meals. The smaller the meal, the less your stomach will stretch.

8. Hydrate with water. Drink at least eight glasses of water every day. This does not include coffee, soda, or fruit-flavored drinks, which have extra calories.

9. Don't pollute your body. Avoid tobacco, excess alcohol, and illegal drugs. These are bad for health and can also inhibit weight loss.

10. Always eat a good breakfast. Skipping breakfast is a method of dieting for many people. But studies have found that people who eat breakfast are actually less likely to be obese.

Here you will find the rest of our steps to a healthier you, including eating and sleeping right, and...singing in the shower!

11. Start cooking healthy. Stop frying your food and opt for roasting or grilling instead. Frying only adds unnecessary calories to food.

12. Enjoy every morsel of food. When eating, chew food slowly. Relish it and pay attention to flavors and taste. The longer you chew, the fuller you'll feel!

13. Be an early riser. Start your day early. Rising with the sun helps reset your body's clock. This builds better sleep patterns so you're energized all day.

14. Be sun smart. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. Sun exposure increases your risk, so when you're in the heat of it, either cover up or slip, slap, slop on a high SPF sunscreen!

15. Stay emotionally in shape. Poor emotional health can weaken your body's immune system. Don't ignore what's going on in your heart and mind. It is healthy to acknowledge your emotions.

16. Keep your teeth healthy. A common cause of tooth loss after age 35 is gum disease. Keep your teeth and gums healthy and free of plaque by brushing and flossing every day.

17. Eat five or more servings of fruits and veggies per day. Keep fruits and vegetables on the front shelves of your refrigerator so they are easy to get to when you reach for a snack!

18. De-stress your life. Stress can cause or aggravate many health conditions. So, don't sweat the small stuff!

19. Know thyself. Knowing your family's health history can help you stay healthy. Many diseases are hereditary and preventable with early screening.

20. Look after your mental health. Depression is a serious illness that needs to be treated. It's not your fault, so you shouldn't be afraid to talk to a doctor for help.

21. Get a good night's sleep. Lack of sleep causes stress on the body. It increases cortisol and insulin, promoting fat storage and making weight loss difficult.

22. Ladies, perform regular breast examinations. The best time to perform a breast self-examination is the week after your menstrual period, when breast tissue is less tender and swollen.

23. Take a nap. Many have commended the benefits of a good 30- to 45-minute nap a day to keep refreshed and lower stress. Try it -- it doesn't mean you've passed your use-by date!

24. Open your lungs. Sing your heart out! It doesn't matter what you sound like! In the shower, in the car, or wherever you are, sing out loud. It's a great stress reliever.

25. Take time to enjoy your life. While it's important to do a good job and take care of responsibilities, life is also meant to be enjoyed. Loosen up! Laugh at yourself, and play as hard as you work!


Can getting angry be good for you?
You've probably heard some perfect couple smugly say, "Oh, we never fight." Besides being annoying, could their lack of fighting be unhealthy?


Can prayer heal people?
Praying may help you be healthier, but what happens when someone prays for you? Is it possible to quantify the power of prayer?

Can you die of boredom?
Eye-rolling, gum-chewing teens think boredom could just about kill them. And they're half right. Boredom itself won't kill you, but the drugs and gambling people do when they're bored can.

Does anger lead to better decision making?
How should we feel about anger? Check out the results of a new study about how anger impacts decision making and analytical thinking.

Does contagious yawning mean you're nice?
When you see someone else yawn, you often find yourself doing it. Yawning is contagious. But what does that have to do with the ability to feel empathy?

How Anger Works
We've all felt fury wash over us. Whether it's the guy who blurts the score to the game you TiVo'ed or the woman who lets the door slam in your face, anger is universal. You might as well learn how it works.


How can someone die from drinking too much water?
Most of us think of water as the healthiest drink in the world. But in abnormal amounts, it can actually cause death. How can a liquid you need to stay alive end up killing you?

How Crying Works
Everyone cries. For some it's an emotional response, while others just shed tears when chopping onions. Are tears a way for us to cleanse our bodies?

How do you define hate?
We've all seen the effects that hatred has on our society, but just what is this destructive emotion? And can it be overcome?

How Fear Works
What exactly is fear? In this article, we'll examine the psychological and physical properties of fear, find out what causes a fear response and look at some ways you can defeat it.

How Grief Works
We all experience grief at one time or another after we lose someone important to us. But did you know there are many different types of grief?


How Hiccups Work
Swallowing sugar, pulling on your tongue, biting into a lemon -- these are all homegrown hiccup cures. Hiccups can drive you crazy, and sometimes it seems like you can't get rid of them.


How Jealousy Works
Everyone's familiar with the green-eyed monster called jealousy. But why do people have those feelings, and why are they associated with the color green?


How long can you go without food and water?
Gandhi fasted for three weeks while he was in his 70s, but he had water to drink. How long can the average person last without food or drink?


How Lucid Dreaming Works
If you could control your dreams, what would you do? Grow wings and fly, talk to God, travel to ancient Rome, dine with Marilyn Monroe, open opera season at the Met? It

How Tattoos Work
Not too long ago, tattoos were taboo in Western culture. But today, people of all ages and walks of life are sporting permanent ink.


Is my brain making me buy things I don't need?
Could your impulse buying really not be your fault? New research is looking at how the physiology of our brains affects our financial life.


What if I ate the silica packets marked "do not eat"?
Silica packets most likely contain silica gel or some other desiccant -- something that absorbs (collects) and holds water vapor. What would happen if you put that gel in your mouth?
See more »

What if I crossed my eyes for 10 minutes?
"Don't cross your eyes -- they'll stick that way!" That's something most of us have heard from our mothers at one time or another. Can they actually stick?


What if I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet?
Each year, approximately 4,000 people go to the emergency room for injuries caused by accidents involving electrical outlets. While this number seems high, even more people never make it to the hospital. They die.




Today, many of us see anger as a negative emotion that doesn't serve any purpose. In one study that asked participants about anger, 28 percent of respondents said that their anger was inappropriate, because anger is generally harmful or useless [source: Weber]. We may not like ourselves when we're angry, and we certainly don't enjoy being around other angry people.
Yet, as with most things, Aristotle is right. Anger can be good for you because it's designed to protect us, our relationships and our way of seeing the world. In the everlasting battle between right and wrong, the bodily effects of anger are meant to tell us that something's wrong.
We go through the world with goals and expectations. Some of these goals and expectations are personal -- we expect to get ahead with hard work, and we expect our significant others not to forget our birthdays. Some of these expectations are shaped by societal standards; we expect everyone to wait in line for their turn with a bank teller. When something violates our expectations or blocks our goals, then we get angry.
Think of anger as your own personal police force or sheriff, riding into town when injustice has been done. The sheriff sends out police bulletins to the effect of, "Hey, that's not right. That's not how we do business around here." That guy is going to show up. There's really no way to not get angry.
But if he's showing up for the right reasons, and if he deals with the situation in the right way, then getting angry can be good for you. If he sits down with the perp and has a productive conversation about how to solve the problem, then anger is doing its job. On the other hand, if you've got a reckless vigilante who shoots every time he gets angry, or a cowardly police academy dropout that can't even fire a gun, then anger is not very productive. As with chocolate cake, anger has to be regulated with moderation.
Confused by all this talk of police officers and chocolate cake? Well, check out the next page, where we'll look at some concrete examples of how anger can be a positive force.


Can getting angry be good for you?
Dealing with Anger
Anger and Control
Lots More Information
See all Human Behavior articles

Coping with Anger
Anger Depression
Anger Problem
Anger Class
Overcoming Anger

Dealing with Anger
To determine whether getting angry can be good for you, we have to look at the factors on each side of that emotion: why you got angry and how you acted when angry. Let's say you're angry because you just spent the last hour doing all the dirty dishes by yourself while your spouse sat in front of the television. You're mad because you wanted to watch television also, and doing the dishes prevented that from happening, not to mention you expect a little help around the house once in a while.
The more you think about it, the more you realize that this is a pretty good reason to be angry. You start getting riled up because your blood is pumping faster, your sudsy hands are clenching into fists and you notice that your jaw is tightened. What do you do at this point? There are three basic options in dealing with anger (or anger expression): holding your anger in, letting it out and controlling it.
The first option might take the form of storming into the living room, throwing yourself on the couch in a huff but then sulkily refusing to answer your spouse's questions about what's wrong. Expressing anger in this way is not doing you much good. If you exercise the second option, you might storm into the living room and start throwing the newly clean dishes. In this scenario, anger's not good for you, and it's certainly not good for those dishes.
But if you walk into the living room and have a calm, controlled conversation about what's bothering you, and how you'd like the other person to address the issue, then anger can be immensely good for you. In studies evaluating anger, participants have described properly controlled anger as an illuminating force, helping to identify both faults and strengths in interpersonal relationships. Getting angry led to making positive changes in those relationships

When you can manage and release anger in this third way, with a calm conversation, many of those scary studies about heart attacks and early death don't apply. The first instance, of holding anger in, may lead to depression, and one study indicated that women who suppressed anger were three times more likely to die than those who did not hold on to angry feelings [source: Angier]. In the second scenario, overt violence and aggression will take its toll on the relationship and your body.
But releasing anger in the third way is both good for you and for the relationship. The very state of getting angry is telling you that something is wrong in the relationship, and that you'd better address the situation if you want to maintain the relationship. In fact, such an expression is likely good for the relationship. One study found that couples who express their anger productively are likely to live longer than couples who suppress their anger.
But what if it's not the kind of situation where you can have a nice productive chat? Find out how that anger can also be beneficial on the next page.

One reason that people generally regard anger as a negative emotion is that you get yourself worked up over something, but it's something that's out of your control and will never change, no matter how many well-mannered conversations you have. Some theorists think that we appraise our anger for its usefulness [source: Weber]. But it may be worth thinking outside the box about how to make your anger useful.


Image Source/Getty Images
When you feel angry, try to think how you can positively address the situation.
For example, it may make you angry when cars fly through a nearby intersection without stopping. You want them to be more aware of the children that walk and ride their bikes there. You could honk or flag down the offending cars to give them a piece of your mind, but sitting at the offending crosswalk, stewing over fast cars and waving your arms is not the most effective way to deal with your anger. What might be effective, though, is working with the local police department to acquire better signage or a traffic light at the dangerous spot. This is an example of how getting angry can create positive change in society; larger examples of this include the civil rights movement and the women's suffrage movement.
Creating change in this way can give you a way to take back control, something that would be lacking if you just felt fearful about sending your children outside to play near the speeding cars. The bodily response to anger is similar to that of fear. You start releasing chemicals to prime the body for action, what we know as the fight-or-flight response. Anger definitely trumps fear in dealing with the situation.
In 2005, a study showed that responding to a stressful situation with anger instead of fear gave you a greater sense of control and optimism about the situation [source: Lloyd]. In the study, researchers analyzed facial expressions, coding them for fear and anger. Those who showed more fear had higher blood pressure and stress hormones. Another study by the same psychologist found that those who responded to the attacks of Sept. 11, with anger instead of fear were more optimistic and realistic about the risks of another attack in the following year [source: DeAngelis].
But maybe you think these people aren't thinking clearly, that their rage is clouding their brain. Anger does change your thinking, but recent research indicates that it might change it for the better. A 2007 study demonstrated that angrier people were better able to differentiate between strong and weak arguments [source: Wenner]. Those who weren't angry were equally convinced by both arguments. This study seems to suggest that anger can help you focus on what's important to you and make decisions that will meet your needs.
As we mentioned, you can't just walk around angry all the time and expect good things to happen. There has to be a level of moderation associated with this anger on either end -- in the things that make you mad and in the way that you deal with it. As Aristotle said, you have to be angry at the right thing, for the right amount of time and deal with it in the right way.
So the next time you feel yourself getting angry, ask yourself what you can do to correct the wrongdoing and stand up for yourself. You may just learn something about yourself in the process -- more than half of a group of Russians and Americans who participated in a 1997 study about their anger reported that anger created positive change, with a third of them saying that it specifically helped them address personal faults [source: DeAngelis].
















1. The Aflac Duck

A duck pitching insurance? Art director Eric David stumbled upon the idea to use a web-footed mascot one day when he continuously uttered, "Aflac...Aflac...Aflac." It didn't take him long to realize how much the company's name sounded like a duck's quack. There are many fans of the campaign, but actor Ben Affleck is not one of them. Not surprisingly, he fields many comments that associate his name with the duck and is reportedly none too pleased.

©2007 McDonald's
McDonald's is certainly an icon, serving
52 million customers a day worldwide.


2. Alfred E. Newman, the face of Mad magazine

Chances are you're picturing a freckle-faced, jug-eared kid, right? The character's likeness, created by portrait artist Norman Mingo, was first adopted by Mad in 1954 as a border on the cover. Two years later, the humor magazine used a full-size version of the image as a write-in candidate for the 1956 presidential election. Since then, several real people have been said to be "separated at birth" from Mr. Newman, namely Ted Koppel, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush.

3. Betty Crocker

Thousands of letters were sent to General Mills in the 1920s, all asking for answers to baking questions. Managers created a fictional character to give the responses a personal touch. The surname Crocker was chosen to honor a retired executive, and Betty was selected because it seemed "warm and friendly." In 1936, artist Neysa McMein blended the faces of several female employees to create a likeness. Crocker's face has changed many times over the years. She's been made to look younger, more professional, and now has a more multicultural look. At one point, a public opinion poll rating famous women placed Betty second to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Continue on to find out how more modern icons, like Joe Camel and the Coppertone Girl, got their start.


Dancing raisins and talking dogs make up this segment of the list of the origins of 12 modern icons.

4. Duke the Bush's Baked Beans Dog

Who else to trust with a secret recipe than the faithful family pooch? Bush Brothers & Company was founded by A. J. Bush and his two sons in 1908. A few generations later, the company is currently headed by A. J.'s grandson, Condon. In 1995, the advertising agency working for Bush's Baked Beans decided that Jay Bush (Condon's son) and his golden retriever, Duke, were the perfect team to represent the brand. The only problem was that the real Duke is camera shy, so a stunt double was hired to portray him and handle all the gigs on the road with Jay. In any case, both dogs have been sworn to secrecy.

5. The California Raisins

Sometimes advertising concepts can lead to marketing delirium. In 1987, a frustrated copywriter at Foote, Cone & Belding was working on the California Raisin Advisory Board campaign and said, "We have tried everything but dancing raisins singing 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine.'" With vocals by Buddy Miles and design by Michael Brunsfeld, the idea was pitched to the client. The characters plumped up the sales of raisins by 20 percent, and the rest is Claymation history!

6. Joe Camel

Looking for a way to revamp Camel's image from an "old-man's cigarette" in the late 1980s, the R.J. Reynolds marketing team uncovered illustrations of Old Joe in their archives. (He was originally conceived for an ad campaign in France in the 1950s.) In 1991, the new Joe Camel angered children's advocacy groups when a study revealed that more kids under the age of eight recognized Joe than Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone.

7. The Coppertone Girl

It was 1959 when an ad for Coppertone first showed a suntanned little girl's white buttocks being exposed by a puppy. "Don't be a paleface!" was the slogan, and it reflected the common belief of the time that a suntan was healthy. Artist Joyce Ballantyne Brand created the pig-tailed little girl in the image of her three-year-old daughter Cheri. When the campaign leapt off the printed page and into the world of television, it became Jodie Foster's acting debut. As the 21st century beckoned, and along with it changing views on sun exposure and nudity, Coppertone revised the drawing to reveal only the girl's lower back.

8. Juan Valdez

This coffee lover and his trusty donkey have been ensuring the quality of coffee beans since 1959. Back then, the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia wanted to put a face on the thousands of coffee growers in the industry. The Doyle Dane Bernback ad agency found one alright! By 1981, Valdez's image was so well known that it was incorporated into the Federation's logo. Originally played by Jose Duval, the role was taken over by Carlos Sanchez from 1969 to 2006. In his spare time, Sanchez manages his very own small coffee farm in Columbia.


9. The Gerber Baby

Contrary to some popular beliefs, it's not Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, or Bob Dole who so sweetly looks up from the label of Gerber products. In fact, the face that appears on all Gerber baby packaging belongs to mystery novelist Ann Turner Cook. In 1928, when Gerber began their search for a baby face to help promote their new brand of baby food, Dorothy Hope Smith submitted a simple charcoal sketch of the tot -- promising to complete it if chosen. As it turned out, that wasn't necessary because the powers behind Gerber liked it just the way it was. In 1996, Gerber updated its look, but the new label design still incorporates Cook's baby face.

10. Mr. Whipple

The expression "Do as I say, not as I do" took on a persona in the mid-1960s -- Mr. Whipple, to be specific. This fussy supermarket manager (played by actor Dick Wilson) was famous for admonishing his shoppers by saying, "Ladies, please don't squeeze the Charmin!" The people at Benton & Bowles Advertising figured that if, on camera, Mr. Whipple was a habitual offender of his own rule, Charmin toilet paper would be considered the cushiest on the market. The campaign included a total of 504 ads and ran from 1965 until 1989, landing it a coveted spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. A 1979 poll listed Mr. Whipple as the third most recognized American behind Richard Nixon and Billy Graham.

11. The Pillsbury Doughboy

Who can resist poking the chubby belly of this giggling icon? This cheery little kitchen dweller was "born" in 1965 when the Leo Burnett advertising agency dreamt him up to help Pillsbury sell its refrigerated dinner rolls. The original vision was for an animated character, but, instead, agency producers borrowed a unique stop-action technique used on The Dinah Shore Show. After beating out more than 50 other actors, Paul Frees lent his voice to the Doughboy. So, if you ever craved Pillsbury rolls while watching The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky, it's no wonder ... Frees was also the voice for Boris Badenov and Dudley Do-Right.

12. Ronald McDonald

Perhaps the most recognizable advertising icon in the world, this beloved clown made his television debut in 1963, played by future Today weatherman Willard Scott. Nicknamed the "hamburger-happy clown," Ronald's look was a bit different back then: He had curly blond hair, a fast-food tray for a hat, a magic belt, and a paper cup for a nose. Ronald's makeover must have been a hit because today McDonald's serves more than 52 million customers a day around the globe.

1. Coca-Cola: "The pause that refreshes" (1929)

With the advent of the Great Depression, corporate America worried that sales would suffer. Not so with Coca-Cola, whose ads depicted carefree people and an idealized view of American life when real life was rather dreary. During the first year of the campaign, sales actually doubled! The economy may have been depressed, but "the pause that refreshes" appears to have been just what Americans needed to lift their spirits.

2. Clairol: "Does she . . . or doesn't she?" (1956)

". . . Only her hairdresser knows for sure." When there's only one female employee in the copywriting department, you give her a shot at the product geared toward women. Shirley Polykoff, who coined the phrase that jump-started the home hair-coloring industry, felt that a woman had the right to change her hair color without everybody knowing about it. The campaign lasted for 15 years, and Clairol's sales increased by 413 percent in the first six years!

3. Volkswagen: "Think Small" (1959)

In 1959, art director Helmut Krone and copywriter Julian Koenig came up with this "less is more" message geared toward car buyers. Like the VW Beetle, the ads were simple and uncluttered, featuring photos of the car against a plain background. Can you sell a car with a headline that reads "Lemon"? Sure! In the ad, Volkswagen was pointing out that the car in the photo didn't make it off the assembly line because one of the many inspectors found a blemish. "We pluck the lemons; you get the plums," was the slogan.

4. McDonald's: "You deserve a break today" (1971)

In 1970, Needham, Harper & Steers successfully pitched an upbeat, catchy melody to McDonald's, but they struggled with the lyrics. Noticing that the word "break" continuously surfaced in focus groups, copywriter Keith Reinhard finally wrote the perfect lyrics for the jingle. Within the next few years, global sales jumped from $587 million to $1.9 billion. The song was named the top jingle of the 20th century by Advertising Age.

5. Miller Lite Beer: "Tastes great, less filling" (1974)

This campaign peppered with ex-jocks contained more than 200 commercials, and its lively debate entertained sports fans for nearly two decades. Is Miller Lite good because of the taste or because you can drink a ton of it and still have room for nachos? During the first five years of the campaign, sales of Miller Lite took off from just under 7 million barrels a year to more than 31 million barrels, breaking the all-time record for beer makers. A guy's gotta be full after that!

6. Federal Express: "Fast Talker" (1982)

These memorable ads are breathtaking . . . literally, you might gasp for air when watching the TV spots. When writer Patrick Kelly and art director Mike Tesch discovered John Moscitta, Jr., who could speak more than 500 words a minute, they knew he would be perfect for ads for the overnight delivery service. When director Joe Sedelmaier put his quirky spin on the concept, the spots were discussed around watercoolers across the country.

7. Apple Computer: "1984" (1984)

This is the TV spot that made the Super Bowl about more than just football. Based on George Orwell's book 1984, the commercial pitted the new Macintosh computer against the totalitarian control of Big Brother and the Thought Police (represented by other computer companies). Depicting an apocalyptic view of the future, the ad opened with a zombielike crowd fixated on a huge screen, then an Amazon woman entered and hurled a hammer into the screen, shattering it. The ad's creators, Lee Clow and Steve Hayden, won every advertising award that year for this venerable commercial.

8. Nike: "Just Do It" (1988)

When ad exec Dan Wieden met with a group of Nike employees to talk about a new ad campaign, he told them, "You Nike guys . . . you just do it." The result was one of the most effective taglines in advertising history. During the first ten years of this award-winning campaign, Nike's percent of the sport shoe market shot up from 18 to 43 percent. Today, the Nike name is so recognizable that it doesn't even need to appear in the advertising. Only the iconic "swoosh" is needed.


1. James Dean and "Little Bastard"

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was killed when the silver Porsche 550 Spyder he called "Little Bastard" was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Within a year or so of Dean's crash, the car was involved in two more fatal accidents and caused injury to at least six other people. After the accident, the car was purchased by hot-rod designer George Barris.
While getting a tune up, Little Bastard fell on the mechanic's legs and crushed them. Barris later sold the engine and transmission to two doctors who raced cars. While racing against each other, one driver was killed, the other seriously injured. Someone else had purchased the tires, which blew simultaneously, sending the driver to the hospital.
Little Bastard was set to appear in a car show, but a fire broke out in the building the night before the show, destroying every car except Little Bastard, which survived without so much as a smudge. The car was then loaded onto a truck to go back to Salinas, California. The driver lost control en route, was thrown from the cab, and was crushed by the car when it fell off the trailer. In 1960, after being exhibited by the Ca