Mr. Yuk
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Mr. Yuk is a character exclusively appearing in small circular green stickers in the United States. He was originally the mascot for the poison center at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, but has since become a national entity to serve the greater cause of alerting people to the risks of poisonous-if-ingested materials, and what to do if someone somehow ingests these poisonous materials.
The Mr. Yuk symbol is used as a replacement for the traditional skull-and-crossbones (a.k.a. Jolly Roger) warning label for poison. This is because some young children associate this symbol with pirates, and therefore may romantically interpret it as an invitation to ingest the poison.
The Mr. Yuk stickers are bold and obvious. There isn't even a textual notice of the poisonous attributes of the contents of the containers they appear on; the visage of a disgusted Mr. Yuk is ostensibly enough to warn anyone "do not eat or drink this."
Mr. Yuk stickers contain phone numbers of poison control offices that may give guidance if poisoning has occurred or is suspected (1-800-222-1222 in the United States).
Mr. Yuk also has entertainment value; many people consider Mr. Yuk stickers to be "cool" and worthy of placement on their various personal belongings. Mr. Yuk is one of the few innocuous public entities or objects that has a "personality" as it were. He even has a theme song (see link below).
External links
- Mr. Yuk Information Page (http://www.chp.edu/mryuk/05a_mryuk.php)
- Mr. Yuk Theme Song (http://www.chp.edu/mryuk/mryuk_web.mp3)