The Jolly Green Giant is a mascot created by the Minnesota Valley Canning Company of Le Sueur, Minnesota, for its Green Giant brand of products now owned by General Mills. In 1925, it introduced Green Giant Great Big Tender Peas and the mascot soon followed. In 1928, famed ad agency founder Leo Burnett, a young designer at Erwin, Wasey & Co., redesigned the original giant whose stooped posture, scowling face, and scruffy bearskin outfit did little to engender goodwill with consumers. The iconic figure we know today stands tall with a bright smile and leafy green costume. In 1935, Leo Burnett, now at his own agency, added the word “jolly” to Green Giant. All of these additions, including careful cropping of the giant, were necessary to create a more friendly impression. So successful was the design, the company changed its name to Green Giant in 1950. An enormous wooden sign with the mascot still stands along U.S. Route 169, visible when heading south into "the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant," and the town of Le Sueur.