Still green and mean, Mr. Yuk turns 50
Mr. Yuk is still Mean.
Mr. Yuk is still Green.
Mr. Yuk still can be seen. He’s turning 50.
That fluorescent green face inside the circle means: Stay away.
Created by Dr. Richard Moriarty in Pittsburgh, Mr. Yuk’s menacing mug continues to be placed on the outside of bottles and other poisonous products.
His five decades of existence most likely will come up during National Poison Prevention Week, which is March 22-28.
There is no telling how many people Mr. Yuk might have saved.
“I hope I saved a lot of people,” said Moriarty, 81, a Lawrenceville native who is retired and living on Washington’s Landing. “I just wanted to help. I had a lot of people around me who supported this idea. I can’t believe it’s still rolling. That fascinates me.”
The University of Pittsburgh medical graduate was training at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, then in Oakland, in clinical pharmacology in the early 1970s. The Pittsburgh Poison Center consisted of one telephone. Moriarty was asked to start a poison center by Tim Oliver, then chairman of the pediatric department at Pitt.
Moriarty created a center staffed by registered nurses that operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
He wrote a grant proposal and received $275,000.
“The most important part is to educate people,” said Moriarty, who incorporated instructional materials to schools about poisons.
When creating Mr. Yuk, Moriarty said he originally thought about using a skull and crossbones because it was considered a warning symbol. It also was the logo for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He and Dick Garber, formerly of Vic Maitland & Associates, a public relations firm and advertising agency, designed an ill face and ugly fluorescent green background and showed it to children.
“ ‘That looks yucky’ one of the children said,” Moriarty said. “So we called him Mr. Yuk.”
An accompanying commercial jingle began with the lyrics, “Mr. Yuk is mean. Mr. Yuk is greeeeen.”
Moriarty said a free 30-second commercial spot during one of the Steelers’ Super Bowl appearances helped get the word out about Mr. Yuk.
The stickers are still available from the poison center. Today, the hotline at 800-222-1222 is connected to 55 U.S. poison centers, modeled after Pittsburgh.
Dr. Michael Lynch, the Pittsburgh Poison Center’s medical director, said he’s noticed a 50% increase in hand sanitizer, bleach and disinfectant calls in 2020 over the year before. Most are accidental.
“There are so many distractions in our lives today,” Lynch said. “Children can get into something so quickly. It’s best to keep things out of reach and locked. Teach children about Mr. Yuk. “
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.