Willy the Hillbilly

Willy the Hillbilly is the old mascot of Mountain Dew. He appeared on Mountain Dew packaging up until 1969. In the commercials, he was voiced by legendary country artist Grandpa Jones.

History

In the 1950's and 1960's, he appeared on the glass bottles and most of the commercials. He was popular with Mountain Dew until 1969, when PepsiCo introduced a new logo for Mountain Dew, without the Hillbilly in an attempt for the company to shift its focus and packaging to a “younger, "enjoyable", and "outdoorsy” generation. In 2008, Mountain Dew reintroduced him for a limited time on a Green Label Art bottle.

Mountain Dew Throwback

In 2010, Willy the Hillbilly had made a return on the packaging of a Mountain Dew flavor, called Throwback (made with real sugar instead of HFCS). The new packaging shows him with the cork of the Mountain Dew jug shooting through his hat, making a hole. As he became popular with Mountain Dew again, an internet promotion was made in Mid-2011, called the "Mountain Dew Throwback Shack" containing several so-called "treasures", such as a bathroom stool, an Arcade Machine game, and a secret stash of a discontinued Mountain Dew flavor, Revolution.

Dewshine

In 2015, a clear citrus flavored Mountain Dew was released called Dewshine that featured Willy the Hillbilly on its packaging.