# what the hell is that in the new ricola commercial?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 10, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795 "2004-01-10T06:12:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/1 "2004-01-10T06:12:13Z")
ok so the new ricola commercials have a guy in leiderhosen with that horn thing, a cute blonde girl, and a guy wearing a fuzzy gray costume. What the hell is he supposed to be? I thought maybe he was supposed to be an Alp, but he doesn’t really look like a mountain. I’m confused and it’s really bothering me.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/2 "2004-01-10T07:55:14Z")
Is this another ANAWFOS night?
Check the ad here:
[http://www.ricolausa.com/welcome/index.html](http://www.ricolausa.com/welcome/index.html)
I do think it is a mountain (Alp) besides how he looks, the layout of the characters at the last frame, is a crude representation of earlier commercials; with the real Alps in the background.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/3 "2004-01-10T14:06:23Z")
It’s not just _an_ Alp, it is the quintessential Alp; [The Matterhorn](http://www.about.ch/cantons/valais/matterhorn.jpg). The costume clearly has that overhanging Peak on top.
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/4 "2004-01-10T14:22:21Z")
I could have SWORN I saw this thread blocked about a minuite ago. I even opened it to see why it had been blocked, and couldn’t figure out why. Wierd.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/5 "2004-01-10T15:39:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AngelicGemma \*
> \*\*I could have SWORN I saw this thread blocked about a minuite ago. I even opened it to see why it had been blocked, and couldn’t figure out why. Wierd. \*\*
There’s an unintentional duplicate of this thread that was locked. That’s what you saw.
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### Author:  [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/6 "2004-01-10T22:18:20Z")
ok so i guess he is the matterhorn… he just looks like an angular banana to me… cause you don’t get a good view of his lower half. at least not in the commercial where the guy gets hit in the head with a tv.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/7 "2004-01-11T06:12:46Z")
Strangely cheerful Swiss people following Dr. Tesla, taunting him: “Neeeee-co-la! Neeeee-co-la!” Tesla flees, throwing sparks, fearing the worst.
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### Author:  [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/8 "2004-01-11T06:30:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \*
> **Is this another ANAWFOS night?**
Ya’ know, I used to seriously thing I spent too much time plugged in to the 'net, but seeing folks who can sling around acronyms longer than, say “WTF” or “IIRC” reminds me that I’m not such a low-life geek after all!
(humming into the sunset).
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### Author:  [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/9 "2004-01-11T12:53:13Z")
[nitpick]
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \*
> \*\*It’s not just _an_ Alp, it is the quintessential Alp; [The Matterhorn](http://www.about.ch/cantons/valais/matterhorn.jpg). The costume clearly has that overhanging Peak on top. \*\*
In Switzerland, the home of Ricola and half the Matterhorn, an Alp is a high mountain pasture (Think Heidi and Goat Peter), not a peak.
[/nitpick]
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/10 "2004-01-11T16:32:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ticker \*
> \*\*[nitpick]
>
> In Switzerland, the home of Ricola and half the Matterhorn, an Alp is a high mountain pasture (Think Heidi and Goat Peter), not a peak.
>
> [/nitpick] \*\*
I had a sneaking feeling that was the case, but decided to just run with the imagery **seawothey** and **GIGObuster** started.
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### Author:  [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/11 "2004-01-11T20:17:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ticker \*
> \*\*[nitpick]In Switzerland, the home of Ricola and half the Matterhorn, an Alp is a high mountain pasture (Think Heidi and Goat Peter), not a peak.
> [/nitpick] \*\*
Sure ([What is an alp?](http://usa.myswitzerland.com/en/na/food/volume19.cfm)). But in Switzerland, the languages are German, French, Italian and Romansh, whereas this thread is in English, and in English, [alp means mountain](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=alp).
We probably should change that.
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that-in-the-new-ricola-commercial/223795/12 "2004-01-12T13:22:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \*
> \*\*There’s an unintentional duplicate of this thread that was locked. That’s what you saw. \*\*
Ahh! NOW it makes sence!