CAMPO

CAMPO, the Committee to Award Miss Piggy the Oscar, was a movement formed in 1979 by two Muppet fans in Cincinnati, Bruce Collin and Jim Hall. The group's aim was to have Miss Piggy recognized as a Lead Actress, and nominated for an Academy Award for her work in The Muppet Movie.
The pair's press release claimed: "First it was Mae West, then it was Marilyn Monroe. Never before had actresses captivated the nation's attention with as much charm, dignity, and suaveness as did these two radiating individuals. Now in 1979 a new motion picture starlet is born, whose great talent and qualifications are unique in the movie field – and who rightfully deserves an Oscar in her bedroom in 1980. Miss Piggy is a legend in her own time (and definitively in her own mind).""Jim Henson's Red Book", 4/4/1980.
The Muppet Show Fan Club newsletter (vol. 2, no. 1, 1979) reported: 
:There is now a group called Cadets for CAMPO at West Point, and similar groups in Canada and Australia. "The response has been whole hog," said Hall.
:Meanwhile, Martin M. Cooper, a vice president of the Motion Picture Academy's public relations firm, was reported as saying, "While the Academy does not participate in the pork-barrel campaigns which are an unfortunate part of the annual Oscar campaign, we do wish you appropriate success with your commendable support of such a weighty candidate for academy honors."
:When our reporter called on Miss Piggy earlier today, she was reluctant to comment on the CAMPO campaign. "I feel," she said, "that in all modesty, and for reasons of professional integrity, I mustn't endorse or in any way encourage the activities of these discerning, intelligent, astute and enlightened people."
CAMPO was also mentioned in People Magazine's story on Miss Piggy (Sept. 3, 1979), which claimed that the group had collected 20,000 fan letters in support of the campaign. By the end of the campaign, CAMPO had amassed over 40,000 letters, and Collin even went out with them to Hollywood to make a presentation to officials connected with the Oscars.
A four-minute story on the campaign was featured on the ABC Evening News on February 15, 1980. Oscar committee President Fay Kanin commented on the problem of awarding the Oscar to Miss Piggy.ABC Evening News for Friday, Feb 15, 1980, Vanderbilt Television News Archive.
==ABC World News Tonight==
From ABC Evening News, February 15, 1980. Hughes Rudd interviews Miss Piggy about her Oscar chances.
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MAX ROBINSON
Finally tonight, on this day after Valentine's Day, Hughes Rudd is all aglow anticipating the Academy Awards with dreams about a certain romantic leading lady bringing home the bacon. [SOUNDS OF MISS PIGGY SINGING ]
HUGHES RUDD 
Ah yes, one of the all time great romantic moments in the movies when Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog find love at first sight and fling caution to the winds. Miss Piggy almost threw Kermit to the winds in her Piggy passion but if you've seen the Muppet Movie you know there's a happy ending and Miss Piggy is now a star. To see Miss Piggy is to think of Olivia De Haviland, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Oscar winners all. So why shouldn't Piggy have an Oscar? There's a movement involving thousands of people all over the world who think she should and they've written letters to say so. But there's a problem here, according to the Oscar committee.
FAY KANIN (Academy President)
You know we all do love Miss Piggy and nobody can fault her, she's adorable, but the rules of the Academy say that we give awards and nominations to actors and actresses not to characters and since Miss Piggy is a character, we just can't, we can't do that. [SOUNDS OF MISS PIGGY]
HUGHES RUDD 
At the moment Miss Piggy's on location in England installed in the Ann Boleyn suite of a hotel in Elstree, which is the British version of Hollywood. So news hawks that we are, we called her on the trans-Atlantic telephone, expense no object. We asked her if she thinks she has a good shot at the Oscar and in her answer she displayed that maidenly modesty for which she's famous.
MISS PIGGY
Well as I say Hughes, I'm being in the company of the great actresses of all time. I mean, it's just quite an honor, I...all I would want is to be nominated, the award matters not...not...not much really it's...it's really the nomination. That's...that's the main thing being...being honored amongst my sisters, my fellow peers. But I want it.
HUGHES RUDD
Have you had to step on many people's backs in order to make it? I know show business is a tough business.
MISS PIGGY
Ah Hughes, I don't step on anyone, I mean when one has talent, one has talent one...one thrives on competition. I may have cut a few people in half but never stepped on their backs.
HUGHES RUDD
I suppose you have been accused of being a ham?
MISS PIGGY
I'll just let that pass, Hughes.
HUGHES RUDD
Well I just want to say goodbye now, Miss Piggy. Au revoir in other words.
MISS PIGGY
Yes, Au revoir as the French say.
HUGHES RUDD
MISS PIGGY
Oh Hughes.
HUGHES RUDD
Yes.
MISS PIGGY
Just...Just one more thing.
HUGHES RUDD
Yes.
MISS PIGGY
Kissie, kissie. [SOUNDS OF MISS PIGGY THROWING A KISS THROUGH THE PHONE]
HUGHES RUDD [SOUNDS OF LAUGHTER] Kissie, Kissie.
MISS PIGGY
All right, guys, wrap it up. How did I do? [SOUNDS OF MISS PIGGY SINGING IN THE MOTION PICTURE]
HUGHES RUDD
Everybody always says there's a lot of politics in the Academy Awards and that's the only reason we can think of for Miss Piggy not getting an Oscar. It can't be because she's not real flesh and blood because we've seen an awful lot of dummies step up to accept the award and the Hollywood establishment didn't even blink. If Miss Piggy doesn't get it, we'll be convinced that something's not kosher about the whole thing. Hughes Rudd, ABC News, New York.
[end of tape]
==Sources==
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Category:Muppet Fandom