Before Sesame Street, 2 Muppets Helped Sell Coffee With Surprisingly Dark Humor
Before Bert, Ernie, or Big Bird, and long before "Fraggle Rock" or "The Dark Crystal", even before Statler and Waldorf, a handheld humbug and another puppeted protagonist emerged from the same creative mind, but for a different purpose than children's education. In 1957, these two muppets were created by the visionary Jim Henson to sell Wilkins Coffee. Henson's locally broadcast D.C. spot "Sam and Friends" (featuring the primordial version of Kermit the Frog) had been on television since 1955, and it was this energy, humor, and personality that would be captured in Wilkins Coffee's advertisements.
Henson created Wilkins, an upbeat, coffee-loving — yet merciless — muppet with a sharp wit in a series of vintage ads that we can't quite believe are real. Then there was his counterpart, Wontkins, a permanently frowning, pessimistic character who wanted nothing to do with Wilkins' coffee. The 10-second black-and-white ads played out as slapstick, quick-fire gags that follow a particular pattern: Wontkins rejects the coffee, and Wilkins punishes him, usually with a level of playful violence that would raise the eyebrows of modern audiences.
Over the run of more than 200 commissioned ad spots, Wontkins gets dropped from a plane, electrocuted, stabbed, shot out of a cannon, tarred and feathered, run over by a train, and shot (on several occasions) by Wilkins, often alongside a witty quip. Imagine a coffee-obsessed Kermit impersonating Bugs Bunny, and you'll get the idea. In one ad, Wontkins turns down a cup of the brand-name coffee while strapped into an electric chair, so Wilkins responds, "How shocking!" and flips the switch.
These muppets were a real hit across multiple brands
The commercials were a resounding success and delighted home audiences in a way standard advertising couldn't, boosting sales of ground and instant coffee. Wilkins Coffee and its advertizing agency, Belmont Ver Standig, took advantage of this popularity and sold 25,000 vinyl toy puppet versions of the characters to customers who sent in empty coffee cans with $1.
Henson recognized the popularity of his characters and smartly received a patent for both of them in 1959, and bought out his contract from Belmont Ver Standig for $5,000 in 1961 — roughly $55,653.00 in today's money. This allowed him to use the same characters (and in some cases the same scripts) to sell different products outside of the D.C. area where Wilkins ads aired. Wilkins and Wontkins feuded over a range of products, including other coffee brands, some of which are still around today. In New York, Wilkins abused Wontkins over Martinson Coffee, Nash Coffee in Minnesota, or Community Coffee in Baton Rouge. The television commercials for these are often exact remakes, except for the brand name and, eventually, the presence of color.
Wilkins coffee hasn't been seen on shelves since sometime in the 90s, after it was sold to distributor and maker Royal Cup Coffee, which has since pulled back on the brand and let the trademark lapse. Bizarrely, this lapsed trademark has given others the opportunity to embrace it, such as a small cafe and roastery in Belgium, which uses Wilkins' brand name and logos, owned by Chris Wilkins.