| Six Flags Mascot | |
| Franchise: | Six Flags |
| First: | 2004 Six Flags advertisements & At Six Flags Parks |
| Creator: | Doner Advertising |
| Portrayer: | Danny Teeson[1] |
| Full Name: | Mr. Six |
Mr. Six is an advertising character since 2004 for an advertising campaign by the American theme park chain Six Flags. Appearing as an elderly man wearing a tuxedo and thick-framed glasses, he was usually shown stepping slowly off a bus before he suddenly performed a frenetic dance to an instrumental version of the Vengaboys song "We Like to Party" to invite stressed and overworked people to Six Flags. Mr. Six last appeared in 2010, with Six Flags stating the character was on a hiatus. On June 25th, 2024, Six Flags brought Mr. Six back in a Fright Fest ad after 14 years.
According to USA Today, Mr. Six is the creation of Doner Advertising of Southfield, Michigan. The success of the ad became such that Six Flags toured the vintage bus featured in the ad to all of its 31 parks selling old T-shirts based on the Mr. Six advertisement. Mr. Six also appeared on the nationally broadcast U.S. TV morning show Good Morning America.
The first airing had Mr. Six as an apparently elderly, slow-moving man dressed in his trademark tuxedo and large glasses, entering a suburban neighborhood in a retro-style bus. The neighborhood's families are working hard but appear to be bored when doing so. Mr. Six slowly shuffles off the bus, then suddenly becomes more limber and performs a high-energy dance routine as "We Like to Party" begins playing. The suburban families happily board the bus and are driven to Six Flags, where Mr. Six dances around park guests and joins them on various attractions.[2] His dance borrows moves from the Melbourne shuffle, jumpstyle, and Techtonik. Ads later showed different variations of Mr. Six dancing and inviting people to Six Flags. Initially he had a non-speaking role.
Six Flags did not disclose the identity of the actor playing Mr. Six for some time,[3] but eventually it became known that Mr. Six was played by choreographer Danny Teeson.[4] Teeson said in 2018, "The first few years, I had a hefty NDA [non-disclosure agreement] agreement with my contract."[4]
On July 9, 2004, Six Flags Great America held a contest to find the best person who could impersonate the new "Ambassador of Fun" Mr. Six and dance like him. The reward was $2,500 cash and other small prizes. About 200 people who wore tuxedos and red bow ties, went out onto the stage and danced. Jordan Pope, 13, won the contest. Jim Crowley, Six Flags Great America marketing director, said, "Jordan truly embodies the spirit of Six Flags!... He had Mr. Six's unique dance moves down to a science, the crowd went wild when he took the stage!"[5]
On November 29, 2005, Daniel Snyder, then the owner of the NFL's Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders), took over Six Flags and the next day, he announced the retirement of the ad campaign. Snyder said that Mr. Six was "pointless". Mr. Six and the "It's Playtime!" motto were dropped and Six Flags' next ad campaign was "Friendly, Clean, Fast, Safe, Service." (The mascot was still prominently featured at Six Flags theme parks on merchandise until his revival in 2009.) The Mr. Six campaign was replaced by the "More Flags, More Fun" campaign, which introduced an unnamed Asian character shouting the tagline at viewers.
On February 2, 2009, Mr. Six began appearing in place of the unnamed Asian character in the "More Flags, More Fun" ads on the Six Flags website. In March 2009, Six Flags announced the return of Mr. Six to promote their 2009 season opening in numerous press releases.[6] Mr. Six also resumed appearances in a number of new television commercials where he dances and says the "More Flags, More Fun" tagline, alongside his sidekick Little Six, a much younger version of himself.
Mr. Six appeared as a bobblehead in the Six Flags New for 2017 announcement video.
Throughout the first half of 2024, Six Flags began teasing the return of Mr. Six. On March 21, several of Six Flags' social media accounts posted a video featuring "We Like to Party" playing in the background on speakers. On June 21, the Six Flags Instagram account posted a video featuring a Halloween remix of “We Like to Party”, depicting the Six Flags bus opening with fog coming out of the back. On June 25, Six Flags released a Fright Fest ad featuring Mr. Six, marking his first appearance since 2010.