ACME

ACME is a fictional mega-corporation that features prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a running gag featuring outlandish products that Wile E. misuses in complicated contraptions fail catastrophically. The name is also used in many other cartoons, films, and TV series, besides the Road Runner cartoons. 
The word acme is derived from Greek meaning the peak, zenith, or prime.
== Origin ==
The name "Acme" became popular for businesses by the 1920s, when alphabetized business telephone directories such as the Yellow Pages began to be widespread, and businesses wanted their name to be at the top of the list. There was a flood of businesses named "Acme" (some of these still survive). For example, early Sears catalogs contained a number of products with the "Acme" trademark, including anvils, which are frequently used in Warner Bros. cartoons, particularly in Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons.
== Description ==
The company is never clearly defined in Road Runner cartoons, but appears to be a conglomerate which produces every product type imaginable, no matter how elaborate or extravagant. In the Road Runner cartoon "Beep, Beep", it was referred to as "Acme Rocket-Powered Products, Inc." based in Fairfield, New Jersey. Many of its products appear to be produced specifically for Wile E. Coyote, for example, the ACME Giant Rubber Band, subtitled "For Tripping Road Runners."
Sometimes, ACME can also send living creatures through the mail, though that isn't done very often. Two examples of this are the ACME Wild-Cat, which are used on Elmer Fudd and Sam Sheepdog (which doesn't maul its intended victim, possibly due to the former having a gun and the latter being a big dog); and ACME Bumblebees in one-fifth bottles (which sting Wile E. Coyote). The Wild Cat is used in the shorts "Don't Give Up the Sheep" and "A Mutt in a Rut", while the bees are used in the short "Zoom and Bored".
While their products leave much to be desired, ACME delivery service is second to none; Wile E. can merely drop an order into a mailbox (or enter an order on a website, as in the Looney Tunes Back in Action movie), and have the product in his hands within seconds.
===Management===
====Head of ACME====
The head of the ACME Corporation has varied over the decades as each one gets replaced for one reason or another, but some of ACME's most well known figureheads have included the following:
* Bobbo Acme, the corpulent and cigar-puffing rodent boss of ACME in Tiny Toon Adventures who was sued by Calamity Coyote for his "defective" products, however Bobbo disproved Calamity's claims when he used Calamity's own catapult against him with zero issues, showing that coyotes simply have a severe case of bad luck when it comes to ACME products. His slogan is "ACME products are safe if used properly!"
* Marvin Acme, the prank-loving founder of ACME and the owner of Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit who was killed during the events of the film. His personal slogan for the company was "If it's ACME, it's a gasser!"
* Yosemite Sam, the fierce cowboy outlaw himself was briefly the head of ACME in Taz: Wanted before being run out by Taz. 
* Mr. Luther J. Chairman, the evil and corrupt head of ACME in Looney Tunes Back in Action who wanted to turn the world's population into an army of monkey slaves to build ACME products for him and then turn them back to normal in order to sell them back the products they made for max profits. In the end, Mr. Chairman's plot was foiled and he himself was turned into a monkey. 
* The Road Runner himself, who was made the new president of ACME in the game Desert Demolition much to Wile E.'s horror. Before Desert Demolition it has also been implied that the Road Runner had some control within ACME or at least some of Wile E.'s unlabeled products, such as in Roadrunner a Go-Go and To Beep or Not to Beep, where Wile E.'s catapults are revealed to have been manufactured by Road-Runner Blue-Print Co. and Road-Runner Manufacturing Co., suggesting that the Road-Runner possibly controlled the nature of some of the products or blueprints that Wile E. ordered so that they would backfire.
====Other Management====
* The ACME Board of Directors serve the head of ACME directly. They acted as antagonists in Looney Tunes Back in Action when serving directly under Mr. Chairman who they followed without question, and in Desert Demolition, Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Elmer, Sylvester and Tweety appear as the board of directors. 
* Colonel Shuffle, the southern entrepreneur was the chairman of ACME's ACME Toys division in Tiny Toon Adventures, however he was subsequently replaced by the kindly Malcolm Geppetto. He had his own board of directors who served under him but were subsequently replaced by Buster Bunny. 
* Dr. Moron, the notable mad scientist is the head of ACME's ACME Biotech division in The Island of Dr. Moron where he conducts his bizarre experiments.
===ACME Products===
:See the List of ACME Products
== Appearances ==
=== Looney Tunes ===
* 1935 "Buddy's Bug Hunt" - An Acme product appears in the background, the very first instance of ACME in the franchise. There is also Acme Fly Paper.
* 1938 "Porky's Poppa" - Porky's Poppa orders an ACME Creamlined Cow.
* 1952 "The Hasty Hare" - Marvin uses an ACME Straight-jacket ejecting bazooka.
* 1952 "Mouse-Warming" - Mice move with the help of ACME Moving Co.
* 1952 "Rabbit's Kin" - Pete Puma protects his head with an ACME Stovelid, though Bugs has an ACME Stovelid Lifter.
* 1953 "Robot Rabbit" - Elmer calls ACME Pest Control.
* 1954 "Design for Leaving" - Daffy works for the Acme Future-Antic Push Button Home of Tomorrow Household Appliance Company, Inc.
* 1954 "Sheep Ahoy" - Ralph uses an ACME Smoke Bomb and an ACME Artificial Rock disguise.
* 1955 "Double or Mutton" - Ralph sabotages Sam with ACME Patented Hair Grower.
* 1960 "West of the Pesos" - Mice are imprisoned in the ACME Laboratorio por Experimento.
* 1960 "Ready, Woolen and Able" - Ralph buys ACME bed springs.
* 1961 "Hoppy Daze" - Sylvester finds Hippety in an ACME warehouse.
* 1962 "Martian Through Georgia" - The Martian uses as ACME Atom Rearranger.
* 1963 "The Unmentionables" - Rocky and Mugsy chase Bugs into the ACME Breakfast Cereals factory.
* 1968 "Skyscraper Caper" - ACME Construction Co. is building the titular tower.
* 1980 "Spaced Out Bunny" - Marvin catches Bugs with an ACME Rack and Pinion Super Tranquilizing Carrot.
=== Films ===
* Set in the 1940s, the 1988 comedy/mystery film Who Framed Roger Rabbit attempts to explain ACME's inner workings in detail. ACME is the premier supplier for the Hollywood Toons' gags and props. The movie's storyline is centered on the murder of Marvin Acme, the founder of ACME. Many of the film's scenes involve ACME products, and the climactic scene of the film is set in the ACME factory. ACME also appears to make non-Toonish devices, and even has a company slogan: "If it's ACME, it's a gasser."
* The films Space Jam and Space Jam A New Legacy do not feature the ACME Corporation as major plot lines, but rather are just mentioned (i.e. "ACME ironlung" or "ACME Vision").
* The 2003 comedy/adventure film Looney Tunes Back in Action shows the head offices of ACME, revealed to be a multinational corporation whose executive officers are led by a villain named "Mr. Chairman," portrayed by Steve Martin.
* In the 2015 direct-to-video animated film Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run portrays ACME as a department store.
=== Television ===
====Tiny Toon Adventures====
The Tiny Toon Adventures series expanded on ACME's influence, with the entire setting of the show taking place in a city called "ACME Acres." The show's young protagonists attend "ACME Looniversity." Calamity Coyote often bought products from the fictional ACME company in his quest to catch the roadrunner Little Beeper. In one episode, the company revealed its slogan: "For fifty years, the leader in creative mayhem." Calamity once sued the company in a People's Court spoof, and its chairman, an anthropomorphic rat named Bobbo Acme, tries to prove its products really do work and any mishaps are caused by operator error.
* The Acme Mall was a regular location in the series where most of the characters would hang out. 
* The Acme Buy N' Buy was a local mini-mart that occasionally appeared in the series but only played a part in the episodes "Gang Busters" and "Best o' Plucky Duck Day".
* In "Fairy Tales for the 90's", ACME Toys plays an antagonistic role in the episode when the board of executives try to turn Buster Bunny into a toy, in the end though Buster is able to trick the executives into falling in their own machine, turning them into a line of successful executive toys. ACME Toys is then taken over by the kindly Geppetto and Buster. 
* In "Son of Looniversity Daze", Hamton J. Pig is antagonized by the Acme Wonder Locker, a corrupt and evil Acme product. 
* In "Acme Cable TV", Buster and Babs enjoy Buster's new Acme Cable programs and Acme products.
* In "K-ACME TV", Buster and Babs take over the titular Acme TV station and create their own shows. 
** In said episode, Calamity Coyote actually becomes fed up with ACME's faulty products and sues the company. 
* The episode "Citizen Max" features the most prominent use of ACME in the series, with the company logo being shown almost everywhere while Hamton tries to figure out why Montana Max went mad over "ACME". 
* The 1994 sports game Acme All-Stars features Acme as a fictional sponsor.
==== The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries ====
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries regularly featured ACME products as well the ACME corporation in many episodes, even giving several details on the company when presented and even showing foreign subsidiaries of the ACME corporation. 
* In "B2 or Not B2", Tweety's bottle of ACME Tanning Oil is taken by Sylvester and replaced with a bottle of ACME Cooking Oil. 
* In "A Case of Red Herring", ACME's many factories are prominently featured throughout the episode, such as ACME Glassworks (manufacturer of all manner of decorative goods and kitchenware), ACMOBIL (a leading car manufacturer and producer of "the safest cars in the world"), and the pride of Sweden the AKMEA factory which is renowned for its very affordable and very low quality furniture. 
==== Animaniacs ====
The corporation occasionally appears in Animaniacs supplying its usual assortment of products. 
* The Acme song from "Cookies for Einstein" is dedicated to the company name but mostly serves to inspire Einstein. 
* Star Warners has ACME as an entire planet. 
* In Wakko's Wish, The Warner Siblings (Yakko, Wakko, and Dot) and other characters live in the village of ACME Falls.
* The Pinky and the Brain segments and their subsequent spinoff mainly take place in ACME Labs which were the ones responsible for splicing Pinky and Brain with their ACME Gene Splicer. Several episodes also have Brain trying to control other Acme subsidiaries or ordering Acme products for some schemes. 
==== Cartoon Network ====
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Cartoon Network regularly featured references to ACME and their products in their Looney Tunes-centered bumpers and shows. 
* The ACME Night and the ACME Hour were blocks that mainly featured Looney Tunes shorts alongside cartoons from MGM.
* ToonHeads occasionally made references to the company in their informative corners. 
* The later CN City block occasionally featured Acme products. 
====Others====
* The 1991 animated series Taz-Mania also regularly featured ACME products, mostly those used by Bull Gator and Axl Gator to capture Taz. 
* The animated action-adventure series Loonatics Unleashed is set in Acmetropolis and regularly featured ACME products.
* ACME and its products are almost completely absent from The Looney Tunes Show, only appearing in the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote CGI shorts, with their only appearance in the main series being in "It's a Handbag" as a website and "Spread Those Wings and Fly" as an airline. 
=== Merchandise ===
Over the years, Warner Bros. has released a wide assortment of ACME-related merchandise alongside the Looney Tunes, mainly those featuring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. The most notable piece of merchandise released was a fully realized ACME Catalog that featured many of the famous products used throughout the Looney Tunes shorts. 
===References in Non-Looney Tunes Media===
The name "Acme" is used as a fake corporate name in a huge number of non-Looney Tunes cartoons, comics, television shows (as early as an I Love Lucy episode), and films (as early as Buster Keaton's 1920 silent film Neighbors and Harold Lloyd's 1922 film Grandma's Boy).
* In the 1938 Three Stooges' short "Violent Is the Word for Curly", the Three Stooges appear as gas station attendants at an Acme Service Station.
* In the 1940-1949 run of The Abbott and Costello Show radio program, Acme was the go-to company for most of the fictional products in the show and the show itself even featured cameos by Looney Tunes characters courtesy of Mel Blanc who worked on the show early on. 
* In the 1952 episode of I Love Lucy "Job Switching", ACME is featured prominently as the ACME Employment Agency whose motto is "people we place stay put."
* In the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, ammunition boxes labeled "ACME EXTRA" are seen in the ammo shop which contained gun parts Tuco used to build himself a customized revolver. 
* In the 1969 run of the Pink Panther Show, ACME appeared regularly as the source of many of the products used in the show. 
* In the 1978 animated special Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper by Chuck Jones, ACME is credited as making Gloopstick which is delivered by a character named Alexander Graham Wolf, who strongly resembles Wile E. Coyote in appearance and voice.
* In the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? franchise, ACME is prominently featured as a global detective agency and as the supplier for a wide assortment of products used to try and capture Carmen Sandiego. 
* Ian Frazier wrote a fictional opening statement as a humor article in The New Yorker Magazine (v66, Feb 26, 1990, p. 42) in the form of a lawsuit by Wile E. Coyote against ACME. The piece is the title work of his collection Coyote Vs. ACME.
* In the 1993 film Last Action Hero, ACME products (ACME dynamite, ACME Storage Center cardboard boxes, ACME video store, old ACME Engineering sign, ACME construction crane...) can be seen in the Jack Slater IV movie. An excerpt from a Wile E. Coyote/Road-Runner cartoon is also shown early in the movie.
* In the 1998 movie Armageddon, a reference is made to Wile E.'s failed attempts to catch The Road-Runner with an ACME rocket.
* In the 2000 The Simpsons episode "Last Tap Dance In Springfield", rat traps Chief Wiggum uses to catch a culprit are made by the company Wile E. Coyote patronized.
* In the 2005 Family Guy episode "PTV", Peter is seen running an ACME store and Wile E. Coyote is complaining about some of the products he purchased which failed and mentions his many years of being an ACME customer. Peter offers to give him store credit.
* The 2009 Bell X1's song "One Stringed Harp" includes the lyric "Like Wile E. Coyote/As if the fall wasn't enough/Those [morons] from ACME/They got more nasty stuff".
* In David O'Reilly's 2010 short film External World, The ACME Retirement Castle is a dystopian retirement facility for disabled cartoon characters.
* The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network provides an "ACME" namespace which contains many humorous, useless and abstract modules for the Perl programming language.
==Notes==
* The most notable and oldest real life Acme companies to survive prior and past Looney Tunes were the Acme Markets Inc. in the Northeastern US which was founded in 1891 and still remain active and prosperous generations later, and the Ohio-exclusive Acme Fresh Market which was founded in the same year. 
** There is a real-life ACME Labs in Bangladesh which is a pharmaceutical company.
* Many Looney Tunes shorts were produced using equipment and cel punchers from the Acme Photo-Sonics company in Torrance, CA, with the company later renaming itself simply to Photo-Sonics. 
* The filming location for the ACME factory in Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the Dimco building in Shepherd's Bush, England.
* It is a common misconception that ACME is an acronym standing for such things as "A Company that Makes Everything," "American Companies Make Everything," or "American Company that Manufactures Everything".
* A fictional company named AJAX was featured in the Disney franchise that is similar to ACME.
== References ==
es:ACME
Category:Locations
Category:Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Category:Companies
Category:ACME
Category:Looney Tunes
Category:Businesses
Category:Recurring Gags
Category:Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Category:Tiny Toon Adventures
Category:Animaniacs