Pluggers is a comic panel was originally the brain-child of David Hume Kennerly and Jeff MacNelly in 1993 that relies on reader submissions (referred to as "Pluggerisms") for the premise of each day's panel. Editorial cartoonist Gary Brookins took over in 1997, three years prior to MacNelly's death from lymphoma in 2000.

It is syndicated by Tribune Media Services in 60 newspapers, mostly in the Southern, Mid-West, Plains, and Rocky Mountain states.

In the context of this strip, "pluggers" are defined as blue-collar workers who live a typical working-class American lifestyle, accompanied by a mentality characteristic of the veteran and Baby Boomer generations. In the comic, pluggers are portrayed in the form of anthropomorphic animals, most often a plump bear, dog, chicken, or rhinoceros, sometimes a kangaroo or a cat.

The blog Comics Curmudgeon often pokes fun at the comic and its implied populist stance , referring to it as a "folksy bit of lower-middle-class reactionary agitprop."

Dave Eggers from Salon.com criticized the strip for lionizing the working class, despite being written by a committee of "current and former CEOs" and objected to "the self-important and vaguely jingoistic way the creators promote the cartoon".

Marc Marot is a UK record executive, the son of a British Army Colonel and the second of four brothers. He spent 9 years living in Germany and 3 years in the Yemen with his family before settling in the UK.

Marot started his professional career upon leaving art college in 1978. At 19 years old he joined members of prog-rock band Van der Graaff Generator in an offshoot collective called The Pool of Sound, who for three years performed on the live music circuit but were unsuccessful in securing a record deal. He supplemented the living he made from music by working as a landscape gardener and whilst doing so picked up the physically debilitating illness toxoplasmosis which resulted in him giving up touring. He moved to London where he got a job as a counter assistant at the Hounslow branch of Our Price Records.

Throughout the period that he worked five days per week at Our Price Records, and on his day off, worked voluntarily at independent music publisher Eaton Music. In 1982 Terry Oates, the owner of Eaton Music gave Marot his first major break by appointing him as Professional Manager at 22 years old. In 1984, Marot was headhunted by Nick Stewart, the Island Records head of A & R who was responsible for signing U2. Marot's new position was general manager of Blue Mountain Music. In an interview with The Independent Marot described the amusing circumstances of his beginnings at Blue Mountain: "I immediately said: `Yes. It was Island and I desperately wanted to work for Island,' says Marot who, with his brother, had been a collector of the label's records for years. What he didn't know was that Blue Mountain was also the personal company of Chris Blackwell, the place where he stashed all his favourite assets like Bob Marley's catalogue, Free and U2.

Colin Lester is a British artist manager of R&B, Pop and Rock Music acts. He was born on 26 May 1960 in Hampstead, London, England.

Lester has managed the careers for numerous commercially successful British and international artists. He was awarded ‘The Peter Grant Award’ for outstanding achievement from the United Kingdom’s Music Manager Forum in 2002.

In 2007, Lester was awarded the prestigious ‘Gold Badge Award’ by BASCA (The British Academy of Songwriters and Composers Association) for his work with UK songwriters. The following year, in 2008, Lester was made a 'Visiting Fellow' of Southampton Solent University where he also lectures on topics of the ‘Music Industry’.

Lester owned a significant stake in the recording company Wildstar Records for which he also acted as co-director and co-owned artist management Wildlife Entertainment.

Lester began his career in the music business as a guitarist with London Glam Rock outfit ‘The Eyes’. At the young age of 19, Lester and ‘The Eyes’ signed their first recording contract in 1979 with Don Arden’s Jet Records. Following the demise of ‘The Eyes’ 2 years later, Lester decided to enter into artist management. His first major signing was the alternative UK indie band Daisy Chainsaw followed by signings of singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph and Manchester duo, JJ, both of whom he successfully negotiated recording contracts for with ‘CBS Records’ now known as ‘Sony Records’.