Thomas got his start managing Kentucky Fried Chicken stores and admitted that meeting KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders was a major inspiration to him. As Sanders did, Thomas did his own commercials for years. Like Sanders, with his white suits and goatee, he developed a signature look. In his case, it was corporate, yet at the same time casual: White short-sleeved shirt, tie, apron and glasses, making him look like a friendly, trustworthy Everyman who had plenty of right to believe in his own product. Comedian and fellow Ohioan Drew Carey's rise may have been helped by his resemblance to Thomas.
Some companies, including those whose boss did his own commercials, continue to move forward after their founder/pitchman is gone. KFC never lost a step after Sanders died in 1980. Carvel ice cream stores have done well since the 1990 death of Tom Carvel. Even Lucille Roberts health clubs managed to thrive since the 2003 death of their namesake and pitchwoman, probably due to the fact that her death was from cancer rather than the heart stress that could be caused from over-exercising. But Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips had a rather brief run of success that was short-circuited by Treacher's death in 1975. And when movie cowboy Roy Rogers, who was never involved in the company that ran the restaurants that used his name, became too old and ill to appear in its commercials as he had done in the 1970s and '80s, the company's identity was also hurt and it has never recovered.
For a few years, Wendy's looked for a new identity, and have used the girl in their sign logo, based on Thomas' real-life daughter (now named Melinda Lou Morse but known professionally as "Wendy Thomas") as an animated character in ads. And their understated "You know when it's real" campaign has provided a stark contrast to the often-flashy ads by McDonald's and Burger King. A merger with Tim Hortons, the Canadian baked-goods and coffee chain that has boomed well past the 1974 car-crash death of its hockey-legend namesake, has also boosted the company. Wendy's is back on the rise, in a way that would have pleased its founder.
