Sesame Street and
The Muppets, which have influenced generations of children. But you might not know that the iconic creator got his start making commercials for Wilkins Coffee, which starred a proto-Kermit character called Wilkins and his grumpy counterpart Wontkins. The commercials are simple: Wilkins offers Wontkins some Wilkins brand coffee, which Wontkins refuses. Then, Wilkins savagely murders Wontkins.
I’m sorry, what? Henson made 179 of these hilariously sadistic 8-second long ads from 1957-1961, which was massively popular across the country. The ads were so successful that they inspired a series of remakes for companies in other local markets throughout the 1960s. Apparently in the 1950s and 60s, people COULD NOT get enough of puppet-on-puppet crime. Don Draper could never.