1950s ‘Muppets’ Ads Threatened Your Life Unless You Drank This Coffee Brand
Image via The Jim Henson Company
In the late 1950s, Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, was approached by Wilkins Coffee to produce advertisements for the beverage. Between 1957 to 1961, he made a total of 179 ads, each lasting just 10 seconds for station identification.
Eight seconds were all he had to work with, taking the other two out for a quick shot of the product. But a lot can be done in eight seconds, it seems, with some lighthearted assassination taking the particular spotlight in the Wilkins ads.
Two puppets voiced by Henson himself, Wilkins and Wontkins, are the star of the show. As their names probably suggests, the former is a coffee drinker and the latter not so much. The consequences Wontkins faces for not indulging in the drink are, well, rather catastrophic.
Trampled on, shot, stabbed, slammed in a car lid, electrocuted, and put in precarious danger in all other forms that you can possibly think of, the poor guy’s fate makes the message clear: drink Wilkins Coffee, or simply perish.
“People who don't drink Wilkins Coffee just blow up sometimes,” Wilkins once shrugged.
WILKINS COFFEE: PETER PETER COFFEE DRINKER (1958)
— One Muppetational Shot (@OneMuppetShot) May 2, 2020
Directed by Jim Henson pic.twitter.com/852Jz8tRfP
Puppetry humor aside, the campaign proved extremely successful. Henson was reported to have told Judy Harris in a 1982 interview that the commercial was “the number one” most popular commercial in the Washington area, Open Culture reports.
In fact, it was so popular that Henson’s advertising agency began to extend this concept to other coffee brands in regions outside Washington, with Henson recreating the ads under different brand names.
He recalls that at one time, they had “up to about a dozen or so clients going at the same time.”
Wilkins and Wontkins went on to become stars of their time, landing more gigs for brands like Kraml Dairy and Red Diamond, according to Muppets Wiki. They also made appearances on the coffee cans themselves, and saw a 1958 run of vinyl puppets in their likeness being sold through the mail for a dollar. Simpler times.
Their Muppet-like appearance, comedic nature of the commercials, and the coffee cans reading, “Hey, kids! I'’m Wilkins—he’s Wontkins—you see us on TV!” showed that their appeal to children was recognized by the company.
But that certainly didn’t stop a caffeinated Wilkins from shoving the grumpy, ill-fated Wontkins under the guillotine in one particular reel.
The ads were so popular they even spawned the very first Muppet merchandise, a set of vinyl Wilkins and Wontkins puppets you could get by sending in a dollar and “the last inch of winding band on Wilkins Coffee.” (The puppets are in the @smithsonian today.) /9 pic.twitter.com/ZQ57ZFSVvd
— Brian Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) September 29, 2020
[via Boing Boing, image via The Jim Henson Company]
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