Elvira and Coors Light
Elvira was signed on to Coors Beer Company and became the first female
spooksperson to endorse a national beer. Every Halloween Coors beer saw an
enormous rise in sales during their "Elvira" promotions.
Little did she know that Coors would slowly begin to attempt to tone down her
image. By requesting her to cover her cleavage with her hair, and pose in ways
that would minimize the amount of 'skin' that was visible in the Coors
advertisements and store promotional stand ups.
Not only did Coors try to alter her image they began to harass her about her
affiliation with the horror genré in films. Rumors have it they began
insinuating a possibility that she was a Satan Worshiper. Or some kind of 'Cultess'
which clashed with their 'Christian Family Image.' Needless to say Elvira was
not pleased with the linking of her fun, sexy character with such cults. Her
affiliation with Coors soon became rocky.
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Trick or Treating for
Beer This Halloween with Elvira |
Elvira and the Great American Beer Festival
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and her trademark plunging neck-line stirred up
a brouhaha at the 1997 Great American Beer Festival here in Denver when she was
barred from festival because she was inappropriately dressed.
Elvira, who was appearing to promote her own specialty beer, Elvira's Night
Brew, continued to sign autographs from her limousine outside the festival.
"Since I began playing Elvira 15 years ago, I have never had to compromise the
integrity of this character, and I'm not going to start now," said Cassandra
Peterson, the actress who plays Elvira. "Would they ask Superman to leave his
tights at home and wear slacks?"
"The beer industry is dominated by a few big guys," she added. "I don't think
they'll make it easy for a female entrepreneur to compete." - Southern Draft
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Back in 1981, who could have imagined the hostess of a local Hollywood
Horror movie show would grow to become a household name? Elvira was the first
horror host ever to be syndicated nationally and has emerged as one of the most
original and outrageous characters in popular culture today.
Elvira's reign as 'Queen of Halloween' has now spanned twenty-nine years and
includes two feature films, an IMAX film and 2 motion control rides. She has
appeared in National ad campaigns for Pepsi and Coors, recorded 5 music CDs,
published 4 books and licensed over 400 products, including 2 Bally pinball
machines, BC Rich guitars, 3 comic book series, Elvira’s ‘Night Brew’ beer,
‘Evil’ perfume and a slot machines from IGT. Elvira also boasts the best selling
female costume of all time.
Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra Peterson was born in Manhattan, Kansas and grew up in Colorado
Springs, Colorado. She began her career at age 17 as the youngest showgirl
in Las Vegas history in the show Vive Les Girls at the Dunes Hotel. After
receiving advice from the 'King' himself, Elvis Presley, she traveled to
Europe where she pursued a career as a singer and actor. She worked in
several Italian films, including director Federico Fellini's Roma and
performed throughout Europe as lead singer of the Italian rock band I
Latin’s 80.
Upon returning to the states, Cassandra toured America as star of her own
musical-comedy group, Mama’s Boys. She eventually settled in Hollywood,
California, where she spent four and a half years with L.A.’s foremost
improvisational comedy group, The Groundlings. In 1981 she auditioned for
the part of 'horror hostess' on local Los Angeles Television station KHJ.
Her show, Movie Macabre and her newly created character, Elvira, became an
overnight sensation.
In addition to co-writing and performing in both the local and nationally
syndicated television versions of Movie Macabre, Ms. Peterson co-wrote,
produced and starred in two feature length films: Elvira, Mistress of the
Dark and Elvira’s Haunted Hills.
