Energizer Bunny begins 20th year

ST. LOUIS — He really does just keep going and going.

The Energizer Bunny is beginning his 20th year. The symbol of St. Louis-based battery-maker Energizer debuted in commercials in 1989. The advertising icon has become famous enough that people who keep going beyond reasonable expectation are often referred to as “like the Energizer Bunny.”

To mark the start of its 20th year, the bunny took part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and continued down the street past the stopping point.

The ad agency DDB Needham Worldwide came up with the idea of the drum-beating bunny. In a recent advertising-related study, 95 percent of respondents were aware of the bunny.