• Forbes CMO Network, Friday, March 19, 2010 10:44 AM

Those leggy, if somewhat anonymous, creatures who have populated M&M advertising since the Fifties are the most beloved spokescreatures in America, according to a poll of 1,500 people by E-Poll Market Research. They garnered a 64% approval rating, hammering our personal favorites, the Geico Gecko (tied for fifth) and the Aflac Duck (seventh), who both manage to give personality to an industry that's inherently devoid of it. But we digress.

Dorothy Pomerantz and Lacey Rose point out that fictional characters, such as Tony the Tiger (No. 3), come without the flaws and foibles that any real Tigers might possess. And they often become intimately entwined with the brand, while real people move on. "Using a spokesperson is using borrowed interest," says Greg DiNoto, chief creative officer at Deutsch New York. "Spokescreatures use the DNA of the brand."

The Pillsbury Doughboy finished second, Mrs. Butterworth was fourth and Aunt Jemima tied with the gecko for fifth. E-Poll asked participants to rank 800 characters on 36 characteristics including sincerity, likability and coolness but for the sake of Forbes' list, they rated the characters by whether they like the characters or not.

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