(1944 - )
Miss Chiquita Banana was created in 1944 by Dik Browne, the same artist who created the 'Cambell Soup Kids' and 'Hagar the Horrible.'
She was created as part of the first 'branding' of bananas, and was used teach consumers about the nutritional values of bananas and how to ripen them. The first live model who appeared as 'The First Lady of Fruit' was Patty Clayton in 1944. The most famous Miss Chiquita was Elsa Miranda (no relation to Carmen) who made numerous personal appearances in 1945 and 1946.
The likeness of Miss Chiquita first appeared on labels to identify individual Chiquita bananas in 1963. She was depicted as a banana until 1987 when the creator of the ‘Pink Panther’, artist Oscar Grillo, transformed her into a woman.