Kern's Bread -- The First Muppets?

[Beauregard]

Apparently, before Wilkins and Wontkins, there was an almost identical ad campaign done by Jim with two guys selling Kern's Bread. I've never seen these guys before, but they were featured recently on TV program, along with an interview with the creator of Kerns bread, coming straight from Knoxville. The progamme claims that these were the first Muppets, were they?

Check it out here:

http://www.wbir.com/life/programming/local/liveatfive/story.aspx?storyid=106848&catid=8

 

[beaker]

Apparently, before Wilkins and Wontkins, there was an almost identical ad campaign done by Jim with two guys selling Kern's Bread. I've never seen these guys before, but they were featured recently on TV program, along with an interview with the creator of Kerns bread, coming straight from Knoxville. The progamme claims that these were the first Muppets, were they?

Check it out here:

http://www.wbir.com/life/programming/local/liveatfive/story.aspx?storyid=106848&catid=8

The Kern's Bread commercials are from 1965, while the Muppets as well as Kermit were around a full ten years before this.
The Wiltkin and Wonktkins ads began in 1957:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Wilkins_Coffee
(producing I might add, the first Muppet figures a full 45 years before the Palisades line!)

Anyways, very cool clip you linked!

 

[Beauregard]

Hmmm...Good thing the news is always known for its accuracy

 

[dwmckim]

Just to add to that. Since Wilkins Coffee was local, the Muppets spend the next decade basically doing different versions of the Wilkins commercials for different regional products (including other coffee companies) across the country. Sometimes they even used the Wilkins and Wontkins puppets. Not only are the Kerns Bread Muppets not the first but the puppets used in those commercials were refurbished from previously used puppets (including turning Taminella into a male character)