Muppet Wikia - In 1957, Jim Henson was approached by a Washington, D.C. coffee company to produce commercials for Wilkins Coffee. The local stations only had ten seconds for station identification, so the Muppet commercials had to be lightning-fast -- essentially, eight seconds for the commercial pitch and a two-second shot of the product. From 1957 to 1961, Henson made 179 commercials for Wilkins Coffee and other Wilkins products, including Community Coffee and Wilkins Tea. The ads were so successful and well-liked that they sparked a series of remakes for companies in other local markets throughout the 1960s. The ads starred the cheerful Wilkins, who liked Wilkins Coffee, and the grumpy Wontkins, who hated it. Wilkins would often do serious harm to Wontkins in the ads -- blowing him up, stabbing him with a knife, and smashing him with a club, among many other violent acts.
Wow. The muppets were straight gangsta in the early days, huh? "Deading" fellow hoods for their brand of coffee? Looks like life was a lot more serious on Sesame Street before they all became rich PBS stars, I guess we know how Snuff got his name now, must have been the most ruthless, lethargic mastodon in the game. Just goes to show money will change some folks (well except Oscar I guess)
