Would-Be Icon

Union 76 has its orange ball antenna topper, Jack in the Box has its clown head and now Wienerschnitzel wants in on the action with a new chili dog character, the Delicious One. The yellow-limbed hot dog fits horizontally over an antenna, to look like it’s hanging on and flying behind the car. But unlike Taco Bell’s now-famous Chihuahua, the Wienerschnitzel chili dog has not yet achieved icon status. “You’ve got to build the demand first,” said Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a marketing and retailing consultant group. “Maybe I’ve been in the wrong fast food lines, but I have not seen [the character]. Maybe they’re jumping the gun.” The company said in a statement that their original “antenna wienies” have been very popular with customers, who regularly request them.