California Raisin Advisory Board

The California Raisin Advisory Board (or CALRAB) was a California state marketing commission based in Fresno, California that was created in the mid-1900s to coordinate the regulation and promotion of the state's raisin crop. The group became most noted from 1986 to 2002 for developing an international advertising campaign using The California Raisins claymation characters. The California Raisin campaign was funded by an initial grant of US$3 million from the United States Department of Agriculture. Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. CALRAB was closed on July 31, 2002, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. In 1998, the California Raisin Marketing Board, funded by raisin growers, was established to replace CALRAB as the promotional organization for the raisin crop.