Intel Gets Hopping on BunnyPeople Sales

Barbie may have a little competition from computer chip maker Intel Corp. this holiday season--the company is selling dolls of the bunny-suited clean-room workers featured in its ads. Users logging onto America Online have an option to purchase one of the 8-inch-tall Intel BunnyPeople featured in television commercials, seen dancing to 1970s disco hits or with the Rockettes in New York, for $6.99 each. The BunnyPeople dolls, like the ad characters, are modeled after the technicians who make Intel microprocessors in ultra-clean rooms, wearing “bunny suits” as protective clothing. The suits, which look like something out of a 1950s science-fiction movie, prevent even the smallest dust particles from contaminating the complex computer chips. An Intel spokesman said the dolls were originally created as something to sell in the Intel company store as a kind of company mascot and for promotional giveaways, because a teddy bear just did not seem appropriate.