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Permalink Reply by Brady on August 7, 2009 at 5:55am

Wow... definitely a different era. I'm a big Jim Henson fan, so these were great to watch. He definitely had a darker humor too.

"I'll take mine with cream and sugar"

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Permalink Reply by Al Sterling on August 7, 2009 at 6:44am

To say I was shocked would be verbal shorthand....... I found those ads irreverant, sick, disturbing, without shame, a slap in the face to hand puppets (you need an extra hand to do that if you're the puppeteer), possibly carcinagenic (sp?), maybe a contributor to some STD........
........... can I have another cup of Wilkins please? (my kind of humor)

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Permalink Reply by Mike Spence on August 7, 2009 at 8:21am

Very different

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Permalink Reply by Dex on August 7, 2009 at 8:26am

Thanks for posting these they were defiantly something fun to look at!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hooton on August 7, 2009 at 8:59am

Jim Henson is my hero

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Permalink Reply by Brady on August 7, 2009 at 5:54pm

I think seeing the Proto-Kermit character was the best part... esp since it appears to be more of a Kermit evil-twin.

YouTube rocks sometimes.

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Permalink Reply by Damion A on August 8, 2009 at 6:43am

From the all-knowing Wizard of Wikipedia: "The first seven-second commercial for Wilkins was an immediate hit and was syndicated and reshot by Henson for local coffee companies across the United States; he ultimately produced more than 300 coffee ads."

Bam Bam said:

Did any of these make it on the air? I hope so.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on August 8, 2009 at 6:58am

wow awesome!


It is almost as if they are saying drink it or we'll kill you. Subtle but effective. hahah

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Permalink Reply by Damion A on August 8, 2009 at 7:59am

There's no reason you couldn't. For shops that don't have bean procurement gimmicks or some other marketing angle then the whole "drink here or we'll stab you" route might prove effective. I think people like a little kink in their cup!

Bam Bam said:

Wow! That's amazing. I wish I could see advertising like this today. Jim Henson is a genius.

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Permalink Reply by Marshall Fuss on August 8, 2009 at 9:32am

Of course there was the greatest threat promotion of all time: National Lampoon's "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog." Voted #7 best magazine cover of all time by Magazine Publishers Association. I think it came from the evil genius mind of Michael O'Donaghue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon (magazine)

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