Frito Bandito

Pressure from the National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee and others prompted an update to the character; his gold tooth and stubble were eliminated and his hair combed.

[2] Actor Mel Blanc provided the character's voice, while the animation was directed by Tex Avery at Cascade Studios in California.

[3] The character was a stereotypical Mexican Revolutionary with a sombrero, handlebar moustache and thick accent consistent with images of Pancho Villa.

[6] The Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee "threatened to file a $610 million defamation lawsuit against the Frito-Lay Corporation, its advertising agency, and the television networks CBS and ABC on behalf of all Mexican Americans" and claimed that the FCC fairness doctrine allowed them a right to "counter-speech" in response to marketing featuring the character.

The company cited a survey of four cities in California and Texas conducted by Foote, Cone & Belding which found that 85% of Mexican Americans liked the Frito Bandito.

[10][11] Groups also lobbied the Federal Communications Commission for free air time to respond to the Frito Bandito under the fairness doctrine.

[13] By July 1970, the company had stopped airing Bandito commercials in the states of California, Oregon and Washington, replacing them with ads featuring a group of cartoon Euro-American cowboy outlaws known as Muncha Buncha.