# Ghostbusters and the StayPuft Marshmallow Man
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 24, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881 "2005-07-24T02:22:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/1 "2005-07-24T02:22:17Z")
Was the StayPuft Marshmallow Man based on a real product mascot, or was it invented just for the movie? I remember [Jet Puffed Marshmallows](http://www.kraftfoods.com/jetpuffed/), but I don’t recall a marshmallow man mascot. Where’d he come from?
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### Author:  [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/2 "2005-07-24T02:28:10Z")
I just assumed he was made up, possibly based on the Pilsbury Doughboy.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/3 "2005-07-24T02:35:56Z")
Yep:
> **[Stay Puft Marshmallow Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay-Puft_Marshmallow_Man)**
>
> The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, also known as Mr. Stay-Puft, is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise, who sometimes appears as a giant, lumbering paranormal monster. He first appears in the 1984 Ghostbusters film as a logo on a bag of marshmallows in Dana Barrett's apartment, on an advertisement on a building near the Ghostbusters' headquarters, and finally as the physical manifestation of the apocalyptic Sumerian deity Gozer. Subsequently, he has been incorporated into many other...
> [@](#):
>
> The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was the cartoon mascot of the fictitious Stay-Puft Corporation which produced marshmallows in the movie Ghostbusters. He was a parody of the real-life Pillsbury Doughboy. Mr. Stay-Puft was brought to life and made 200 feet tall by an ancient Sumerian demi-god called Gozer on Central Park West in New York City, when it forced the Ghostbusters to choose the form Gozer would assume to destroy their world. Ray accidentally made the choice, Mr. Stay Puft having “just popped in there”.
One of my favorite movies. Can you tell? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/4 "2005-07-24T02:39:06Z")
IIRC, they had an idea for a product placement, but it fell through, so they just made up the name. It might have been inspired by a Canadian product, Ackroyd, being a Canuck and all.
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### Author:  [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/5 "2005-07-24T02:51:34Z")
I believe that the original script called for it to be the Pillsbury Doughboy, but Pillsbury did not give permission. They’re pretty protective of the Doughboy.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/6 "2005-07-24T03:01:37Z")
When the Pillsbury doughboy turned 25, several years after Ghostbusters was released, there was a large(several stories tall) inflatable doughboy outside the building - he looked very much like the Stay Puft marshmellow man.
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/7 "2005-07-24T08:20:50Z")
This StayPuft guy is a sailor, he’s in New York . . . We get this guy laid we got no problem.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/8 "2005-07-24T09:19:04Z")
When Sigourney Weaver’s character comes back to the apartment with her shopping, just before the eggs fry on the bench and Hell appears in the fridge, you can see she has a pack of Stay-Puft Marshmallows.
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/9 "2005-07-24T13:54:28Z")
Wow, that’s odd – I’d always assumed Stay Puft was a real product, and the Man the real mascot. Am I misremembering some other marshmellow product that had a mascot?
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/10 "2005-07-24T16:22:30Z")
I was at a con in which the winner of the costume display was a guy who’d made up a costume of the marshmallow man. It was perfectly done, made out of sheets of white sponge foam rubber. The head was detachable, and except for displays he kept it off most of the time, because the costume was so hot. That foam was an excellent insulator.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/11 "2005-07-24T17:06:09Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> That foam was an excellent insulator.
Well, as long as you don’t cross the beams.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/12 "2005-07-24T21:25:46Z")
The Stay-Puft marshmallow man was real dammit. I distinctly remember toasting them at campfires in the 1950’s. I’ll look for evidence.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/13 "2005-07-24T21:36:15Z")
> [@Bill Door](#):
>
> The Stay-Puft marshmallow man was real dammit. I distinctly remember toasting them at campfires in the 1950’s. I’ll look for evidence.
Was that at [Camp Waconda?](http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/Ghostbusters.txt)
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/14 "2005-07-24T23:14:46Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> This StayPuft guy is a sailor, he’s in New York . . . We get this guy laid we got no problem.
Mother pus-bucket!
Nobody steps on a church in my town!
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-and-the-staypuft-marshmallow-man/313881/15 "2005-07-24T23:21:17Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> This StayPuft guy is a sailor, he’s in New York . . .
Hello, sailor. Is that an inflation valve, or are you just glad to see me?