Maybe it was for the better that LJS dropped Pepe (Help me okay! I've fallen and I can't get up okay). Many of my friends know that I'm a Muppet fan, and whenever they'd see a commercial, they'd tell me. Our conversations usually looked like this:
Friend: "Hey, I saw that Red Lobster commercial."
Me: "What Red Lobster commercial?"
Friend: "You know the one with the shrimp."
Me: "What shrimp?"
Friend: "You know the Muppet shrimp." (and right now they're giving me a look like I don't know a thing about the Muppets at all, and they're the kind of people who confuse Fozzie for Gonzo).
Me: "Oh, you mean Pepe."
Friend: "Yeah, sure."
Me: "Pepe's not a shrimp, he's a king prawn okay!"
Friend: "Whatever."
Me: "Oh yeah, and it's not Red Lobster, it's Long John Silvers."
Friend: "Whatever."
So maybe all of these people seeing Pepe commercials were flocking to Red Lobster looking for the Muppet shrimp...