Mainzelmännchen

The Mainzelmännchen are six comedic cartoon characters used as mascots for the German public service television broadcaster ZDF. They first appear on television in 1963 to accommodate a government regulation prohibiting confusion between broadcast advertising and content. The cartoon characters served as a transition between the two.^[1]

Different versions of the Mainzelmännchen over time

Pedestrian signal in Mainz

They appear in between ads during broadcasts, in roughly three to five-second clips, and often during the satirical news program Heute-show. The name is a portmanteau of Mainz, home to the ZDF headquarters, and Heinzelmännchen, a type of gnome common in folklore in the region surrounding the city of Cologne. Wolf Gerlach created the characters.^[2][3]

The Mainzelmännchen have become popular across Germany. Apart from children's books and numerous other kinds of merchandise, radio dramas having been created surrounding them.^{[citation needed]}

Appearance and actions

The Mainzelmännchen are either wights or dwarves, and display similarities to Heinzelmännchen. They often wear a Phrygian cap similar to garden gnomes without beard. Their appearances often last three to five seconds, during which they perform a single short gag. They usually speak in only a few short words, in a grumbly tone. Many of the gags are presented only visually and pantomimically. Their most famous saying is the traditional greeting "Gud'n Aamd", a dialect-accented "Guten Abend" ("good evening"). Their given names are Anton, Berti, Conni, Det, Edi, and Fritzchen.^[4]

External links

• Mainzelmännchen on ZDF.de
• Mainzelmännchen on: ZDF Werbefernsehen