Wilkins and Wontkins Ads
Jim and Jane operate Wilkins and Wontkins.
Another thing they have in common with The Muppet Show and later Muppet humor in general are their meta sensibilities. Just as The Muppet Show would often poke fun at TV conventions, and the Muppets in basically all of their films are aware they are in films, Wilkins and Wontkins are aware they are in commercials, and there are a number of ones in which they directly reference that fact. Sometimes, Wontkins begs the off-camera “Mr. Wilkins,” aka the owner of Wilkins Coffee, to give it a rest. In one, Mr. Wilkins even “puts his foot down,” literally crushing Wontkins himself in the process! In an era where most TV commercials were straightforward product descriptions, Henson’s humor is years ahead of its time, and, as I said earlier, in some ways is far more subversive than what airs today. And the funniest part of it all is that Jim actually himself hated coffee, so you could say he actually identified more with the character on the receiving end of the abuse!
And this all paid off. Not only did these ads hugely increase sales of Wilkins’ coffee but people became so obsessed with them that many claimed the real reason they watched TV in the afternoon was in order to catch Jim’s latest commercial! The ads won local awards and even led to other local coffee and even bread brands in other markets asking for Wilkins and Wontkins commercials, such as Giant Bread and Red Diamond Coffee, etc.! Why, Jim and Co. even eventually sold Wilkins and Wontkins puppets to the general public, making them the first-ever example of official Muppet merch! In fact, they showed up in commercials all the way up to the late ’60s!
And here are some Wilkins and Wontkins ads for you to see yourself:
And here are a lot more! And please come back on Monday, as I watch a bunch of episodes of Sam and Friends from later in its run, around the early 60s.