Wilkins and Wontkins
{{Short description|Advertising characters}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Wilkins and Wontkins
| series =
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| first = 1957
| last = 1969
| creator = Jim Henson
| voice =
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| species = Muppet
| gender = Male
| occupation =
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| nationality = American
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}}
Wilkins and Wontkins are characters created by puppeteer Jim Henson for the Wilkins Coffee brand. The coffee was produced and sold in the United States by John H Wilkins & Company in Washington D.C.{{cite news|title=John H. Wilkins Dies at 65; Headed Coffee Company Here|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 1, 1967}} ( via {{cite web|url=https://www.shorpy.com/node/8918#comment-100999|title=Chief Navy Coffee Roaster|publisher=SHORPY - The American Photo Archive}}){{cite book | last=Montague | first=J. | title=The Subdivisions of Avalon Heights, Langdon, Montello, Woodridge, and Winthrop Heights | publisher=Book Venture Publishing LLC | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-946492-16-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sw9xDwAAQBAJ | access-date=2022-01-25|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sw9xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA611 611]}} "Wilkins", a character who enjoys Wilkins Coffee,{{Cite web |title=Wilkins Puppet |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1444759 |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=National Museum of American History |language=en}} and "Wontkins", a character who does not, are used to advertise the coffee.{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Michael|date=2008|title=Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gAwejVhA3MC&pg=PA82|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-0-670-01996-0|access-date=January 25, 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Gwin |first=Melinda |date=2020-11-05 |title=Wilkins Coffee Commercials and the Muppets You Never Knew |url=https://oddfeed.net/wilkins-coffee-muppets/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=OddFeed |language=en-US}}
Background
Wilkins Coffee was founded in 1899 by John H. Wilkins Sr. The company sold coffee, tea and spices. His son John Wilkins, Jr. later took over the business.{{Cite news |date=2019-12-28 |title=Jim Henson once sold coffee with two manic Muppets named Wilkins and Wontkins - The Washington Post |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-1950s-washington-jim-hensons-muppets-sold-coffee--violently/2019/12/28/032c9e34-210f-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html |access-date=2023-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228235106/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-1950s-washington-jim-hensons-muppets-sold-coffee--violently/2019/12/28/032c9e34-210f-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html |archive-date=2019-12-28 }}{{Cite web |title=Just Wonderful: 1925 |url=https://www.shorpy.com/node/8918 |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Shorpy.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2021-02-20 |title=COFFEE OR...KEEPING THINGS PERKING AT WILKINS COFFEE - The Washington Post |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1989/02/22/coffee-orkeeping-things-perking-at-wilkins-coffee/9b5b3213-e1f8-47dd-85a1-6d10ae7c154c/ |access-date=2023-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220224412/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1989/02/22/coffee-orkeeping-things-perking-at-wilkins-coffee/9b5b3213-e1f8-47dd-85a1-6d10ae7c154c/ |archive-date=2021-02-20 }}
Wilkins Coffee's slogan was ‘'Try Wilkins Coffee - It’s Just Wonderful!’;{{Cite web |last=Sorene |first=Paul |date=2018-08-19 |title=Jim Henson's Sadistic And Hilarious Adverts For Wilkins Coffee (1957-1961) |url=https://flashbak.com/jim-hensons-sadistic-and-hilarious-adverts-for-wilkins-coffee-1957-1961-54378/ |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Flashbak |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Just Wonderful: 1925 |url=https://www.shorpy.com/node/8918 |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Shorpy.com |language=en}} a later slogan used in advertisements was 'Rich… Rich… Double Rich'.
Wilkins and Wontkins
In 1957, Jim Henson was hired by Helen Ver Standig who worked on advertising Wilkins Coffee, to produce commercials using early Muppet characters. Henson produced these commercials from 1957 to 1961.{{Cite web |title=Wilkins Coffee (Advertising) |url=https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Advertising/WilkinsCoffee |access-date=2023-09-11 |website=TV Tropes}}{{user-generated source|date=July 2024}}{{Cite web |last=Dumas |first=Zoe |date=2023-03-25 |title=The Early Violent Work of Jim Henson Is Far From Felt Friendly |url=https://movieweb.com/early-jim-henson-muppets-explained/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=MovieWeb |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sorene |first=Paul |date=2018-08-19 |title=Jim Henson's Sadistic And Hilarious Adverts For Wilkins Coffee (1957-1961) |url=https://flashbak.com/jim-hensons-sadistic-and-hilarious-adverts-for-wilkins-coffee-1957-1961-54378/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Flashbak |language=en-US}} Each ad ran for about 10 seconds long.{{Cite web |title=Jim Henson's Commercials for Wilkins Coffee: 15 Twisted Minutes of Muppet Coffee Ads (1957-1961) |website=Open Culture |date=2022-11-08 |url=https://www.openculture.com/2022/11/jim-hensons-commercials-for-wilkins-coffee.html |access-date=2023-10-15 |language=en-US}} They were composed of an 8-second puppet skit, and a 2-second shot of the advertised Wilkins product.{{Cite web |title=Jim Henson's First TV Commercial Muppets Were Kinda Violent |url=https://nerdist.com/article/jim-henson-muppets-commercial-wilkins-coffee/ |access-date=2023-09-11 |website=Nerdist |language=en-US}} The ads were very successful. In 1958, 25,000 puppets of Wilkins and Wontkins were sold for 1 dollar each.{{Cite news |date=1958-11-25 |title=Wilkins Coffee hand muppets advertisement |pages=13 |work=The Evening Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-wilkins-coffee-hand-mupp/132607265/ |access-date=2023-10-15}} There were also ads for Wilkins Tea and Wilkins Instant Coffee. Jim Henson also used Wilkins and Wontkins in ads for several other brands, such as Community Coffee, Nash’s Coffee, Red Diamond Coffee, La Touraine Coffee, Jomar Instant Coffee, Kraml Dairy, Calso Water, Taystee Bread, Dugan's Bread, Merita Bread, Frank's Beverages, Faygo, and Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO).{{Cite web |title=Muppet Central Articles - Interviews: Jim Henson |url=https://muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/jim2.shtml |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=muppetcentral.com}} The last ads to feature Wilkins and Wontkins were ads for Community Coffee in 1969.
The typical format of the ads would see the gleeful Wilkins persuading the sour Wontkins to drink Wilkins Coffee; Wontkins would almost always grumpily refuse, leading Wilkins (or an assisting outside force, such as an animal, a vehicle, an object, a hand, or company president Mr. Wilkins) to commit some act of extreme violence, such as:{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktOchoGePbA | website=YouTube | title=All the Wilkins and Wontkins Commercials (Even the Rare ones ©) | date=28 June 2020 }}
- Shooting him
- Stabbing him
- Running him over
- Throwing him out of buildings
- Throwing him off of ships
- Throwing him out of aircraft
- Breaking a glass bottle over his head
- Strapping him to a barber chair and attempting to slit his throat
- Firebombing his house
- Executing him in an electric chair
Later history
John H. Wilkins, Jr. died in 1967 of a heart ailment.
Wilkins Coffee had a number 1 retail spot in the 1950s, but as competition got tougher with companies such as General Mills and Folgers, Wilkins began losing its market share. In the early 1990s Wilkins Coffee started to sell Wilkins and Wontkins shirts to try to regain popularity.{{Cite news |date=1990-10-21 |title=Wilkins Coffee ad, promoting a t-shirt with Wilkins and Wontkins. |pages=716 |work=The Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-wilkins-coffee-ad-pro/57561977/ |access-date=2023-10-15}}
Wilkins Coffee has been defunct since 1997.{{Cite news |date=1997-01-08 |title=Wilkins Coffee in 1997, no results were found in a search for 1998. |pages=69 |work=The Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-wilkins-in-1997/163777125/ |access-date=2025-01-23}}
In recent years, the Wilkins Coffee ads have gone viral online.{{Cite web |title=Jim Henson's Old Wilkins Coffee Ads Resurface, Boy Are They Dark |url=https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/20/jim-henson-wilkins-coffee-ads-resurface-muppets-commercial/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=TMZ |date=20 February 2021 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tennes |first=Carly |date=2021-02-22 |title=Jim Henson's Wildly-Violent Early Coffee Commercial Goes Viral |url=https://www.cracked.com/article_29670_jim-hensons-wildly-violent-early-coffee-commercial-goes-viral.html |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Cracked.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-02-22 |title=Resurfaced Violent Muppet Killings Give Bygone Brand Wilkins Coffee a Moment |url=https://dailycoffeenews.com/2021/02/22/resurfaced-violent-muppet-killings-give-bygone-brand-wilkins-coffee-a-moment/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-09-14 |title=60 years later, Jim Henson's Muppet coffee ads are still a hit |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90606911/six-decades-later-jim-hensons-hilariously-violent-muppet-coffee-ads-are-still-a-hit |access-date=2023-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914063918/https://www.fastcompany.com/90606911/six-decades-later-jim-hensons-hilariously-violent-muppet-coffee-ads-are-still-a-hit |archive-date=2022-09-14 }}{{Cite web |date=2020-11-06 |title=Wilkins and Wontkins |url=https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wilkins-and-wontkins |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Know Your Meme}}
Book cites
- {{cite book |title=Coffee and Tea Industries and the Flavor Field |issue=v. 41 |year=1918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osU6AQAAMAAJ |ref={{sfnref | Coffee and Tea Industries and the Flavor Field | 1918}} |access-date=2022-01-29 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=osU6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA948 948]}}
- {{cite book | last=Davis | first=M. | title=Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street | publisher=Viking | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-670-01996-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gAwejVhA3MC | access-date=2022-01-29|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6gAwejVhA3MC&pg=PA82 82]}}
- {{cite book | last=Jones | first=B.J. | title=Jim Henson: The Biography | publisher=Ballantine Books | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-345-52612-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPcBDAAAQBAJ | access-date=2022-01-29|chapter=Chapter Four - Muppets, Inc.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPcBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA67}}
- {{cite book | title=Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia for ... | publisher=R.L. Polk & Company | year=1920 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSlJAQAAMAAJ | ref={{sfnref | R.L. Polk & Company | 1920}} | access-date=2022-01-29|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VSlJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA142 142]}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
Some of these are citable to support additional content
- {{cite book | author=United States. Federal Trade Commission | title=Economic Report of the Investigation of Coffee Prices | publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office | year=1954 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQsiitPqyMQC | access-date=2022-01-25 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JQsiitPqyMQC&pg=PA219 219]}}
- {{cite book | title=Standard Advertising Course for Printers | publisher=United typothetae of America | year=1919 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5A_AAAAYAAJ | ref={{sfnref | United typothetae of America | 1919}} | access-date=2022-01-25|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N5A_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PP106 106]}}
- {{cite book | title=Cents-off Promotions in the Coffee Industry | publisher=Bureau of Economics | year=1966 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ocnAQAAMAAJ | ref={{sfnref | Bureau of Economics | 1966}} | access-date=2022-01-25|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1ocnAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA20 20]}}
- {{cite book | author=United States. Patent Office | title=Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office | publisher=U.S. Patent Office. | year=1962 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GUbAQAAMAAJ | access-date=2022-01-25|page=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GUbAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA131 131]}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmhIizQQol0|title=Wilkins Coffee - Wilkins and Wontkins (1957-1961, USA)|date=21 October 2015 |publisher=YouTube|accessdate=January 25, 2022}} NOTE—May have copyright issues
{{The Muppets}}