Mello(w) Yello(w)?

(above A Homer Simpson doll suspended outside a shop window in Iceland... or Island as properly spelled.) Definitely yellow. Probably not all that mellow.

Back in the day, a European performer known as "Donovan" popularized the idea that yellow could be a mellow color, even if it is kind of bright and sunny and generally rather exciting. Apparently, he even titled a whole record album after this concept. According to a rather disjointed and lively entry on Wikipedia, various origins for the identity of the mellow yellow object were originally suggested. None of them seem particularly cheerful.

Although clearly not the original "mellow yellow" object, the discussion brings to mind Andy Warhol's banana image for the Velvet Underground. Further research shows that people interested in bananas can be pretty intense, as there are quite a number of databases devoted to recording the genetic data and other information associated with this tasty fruit and its cousin the plantain.

A citrus-y soft drink called Mello Yello is also somewhat popular in the US, although probably not quite as popular as Donovan. One wonders if it's actually "mellow," however, as the whole point seems to be that it's caffeinated but does not taste like cola. Several other rival yellow caffeinated drinks are also available, but their advertising suggests that they are more intended for an edge-of-your seat, bungee jumping, cliff diving type of crowd.

The phenomenon of caffeinated but not cola drinks is a bit different in various countries. In Europe, citrus-y caffeinated soft drinks, like Kinnie and San Pellegrino Chino actually also look like cola and are not yellow. They do not really taste like cola. And some people have gone so far as to suggest that they do not taste good, but that is a matter of... taste. The citrus-y drinks definitely do taste interesting, although not quite as interesting as Thums Up Cola, which briefly ousted Coca Cola from India, only to be later engulfed by the now multinational "pause that refreshes."

Another interesting phenomenon in Europe seems to be a fascination with yellow-colored US cartoon characters. For example, both Spongebob and the Simpsons feature in shop window displays in Siena, where they also seem to be friendly with Smurfette.

I'm not sure what the representations are like in Europe, but I don't find the Simpsons or Spongebob or the Smurfs to be particularly mellow. Frolicksome, antic, perky, wacky, and lively, yes. Mellow. Not so much.

It is, of course, worthy of note that many of these cartoon images seem to play into a generally European notion that Americans are comical figures who pattern their behavior after such notable celebrities as Jerry Lewis after his split with Dean Martin or Soupy Sales.

Perhaps it's time for some further research?

fair use rationale for the images of copyrighted materials: use of these images as an illustration for purposes of criticism or comment, is not an infringement of copyright based on: the purpose and character of the use, which is not for profit, uses only a small portion of the copyrighted work, and does not infringe upon the commercial use of the original work.

image credits:citrus slices by Scott Bauer, USDA. public domain image
citrus wedges image from the US National Institutes of Health. public domain image.