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Wilkins and Wontkins

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The Resume

    (1957-1969)
    Spokesmuppets for Wilkins Coffee, a Washington DC-area brand
    Created by Jim Henson
    After the original Wilkins ad campaign (1957-62), were used for other regional brands, including Nash’s Coffee, Community Coffee, Red Diamond Coffee, Wilson’s Meats, Merita Bread, and Kiami Dairy

Why they might be annoying:

    The ads were violent, with Wontkins being beaten, shot, stabbed, blown up, sawn in half, set on fire, and otherwise dispatched for the crime of not liking coffee.
    In addition to the violence, Wontkins was repeatedly subjected to bad puns. (Such as Wilkins declaring ‘How shocking’ before throwing the switch of an electric chair that Wontkins is strapped into.)
    Ironically, Henson himself did not like coffee.

Why they might not be annoying:

    Each commercial lasted only ten seconds.
    Sales of Wilkins Coffee increased 25% after the ad campaign began.
    Henson commented, ‘Until then, advertising agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh.’
    Senator John Marshall Butler (R-MO), in a speech decrying the general banality of TV advertising, declared, ‘About the only clever advertising on the air today is Wilkins and Wontkins.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying