[Salon]:The inner Doughboy. ‘Some onlookers are muttering that

the guardians of the brand icons have become so enraptured

by these happy little beings that they’ve lost their grip on

reality. “There are whole documents on what these characters

will and won’t do,” complains Court Crandall, creative

director at Ground Zero, a Santa Monica, Calif., advertising

agency. “The documents go into the thousands of pages …

Meanwhile, no one ever stops to consider whether the

character even feels worth a damn in the first place. There’s a

fine line between being a good brand custodian and being

certifiably insane.”‘