Charlie the Tuna, the cartoon mascot tuna for StarKist Tuna, was created by Tom Rogers of the Leo Burnett Agency after StarKist hired Leo Burnett in 1961. StarKist Tuna is the name of a brand of tuna currently owned by Del Monte Foods, Inc.
As reported in news stories about Rogers, Charlie the Tuna was based on Rogers' friend, the actor-songwriter Henry Nemo. B-movie actress Maila Nurmi claims that the character was originally sketched six years earlier by the actor James Dean. However, StarKist and Burnett both give full credit to Rogers, and there is no actual evidence for Nurmi's claim.
The advertisements depicted Charlie (voiced by actor Herschel Bernardi) as a hipster wearing a beret and glasses, whose goal is to be caught by the StarKist company. Charlie believes that he is so hip and cultured that he has 'good taste,' and is thus the perfect tuna for StarKist.
Charlie is always rejected in the form of a note attached to a fish hook that said 'Sorry, Charlie.' The reason given in the commercials for the rejection was that StarKist wasn't looking for tuna with good taste, but rather for tuna that tasted good.
