From Puppet Violence to Paid Partnerships: How Humor Became Advertising’s Most Powerful Tool
In 1957, a young Jim Henson was asked to complete a strange assignment: sell coffee, but you only have 8 seconds. No jingle, not enough time for any sort of story arc, just a puppet and a product. What was created out of this was a grouchy Muppet named Wontkins who was shot out of a cannon for refusing to drink Wilkins Coffee. This became one of the earliest proof points of something every great brand would eventually learn: funny sticks.
Henson made 179 of those Wilkins Coffee spots, and they spread to local markets across the country. They got weirder, and they got more violent. But why? He was just selling coffee. Why on earth did these ads work? It’s because they made people feel something. And that feeling got attached to the brand. It wasn't just advertising. It was entertainment, with a catch. The catch… you wanted to buy Wilkins coffee.
The Golden Age of TV Comedy Advertising
Through the 1960s and ’70s, character-based humor took hold. The Jolly Green Giant, the Tootsie Pop owl, Mean Joe Greene tossing a Coca-Cola to a kid. Brands discovered that a single memorable moment, built around personality and humor, could outlast any product pitch.
By the 1980s, the Super Bowl had become America’s biggest stage for advertising with some of history’s most memorable campaigns being born from it. Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" (1984) turned Clara Peller into a cultural phenomenon overnight. The Energizer Bunny parodied other commercials. Apple's "1984" spot proved you could sell technology through emotion, tension, and a little theater. The rules were being rewritten in real time.
The ’90s turned humor into a full-blown cultural currency. Budweiser's Frogs said almost nothing and became iconic. Then came "Wassup?!" which Budweiser turned into a campaign that won the Grand Prix at Cannes and entered everyday language. It wasn't just a funny ad, it became the thing people said to each other. And if you were around for that era (like I was), it’s something you may still say on a weekly basis.
Make people laugh and they'll never forget you — or your brand.
The Era of Brands That Committed to the Bit
The 2000s and 2010s rewarded brands willing to go all-in on a comedic identity and hold onto it. GEICO's Gecko grew the company's market share from roughly 5% to over 14% over two decades. Not because of one clever ad, but because of relentless consistency with a character people actually liked and connected with. Progressive built an entire world around Flo. In 2010, Old Spice flipped a struggling legacy brand on its head with Isaiah Mustafa delivering some of the most absurd advertising since Jim Henson’s Wilkins coffee ads. It repositioned the brand for a new generation and became a viral sensation before "going viral" was even a real marketing metric.
Snickers sent Betty White to play tackle football that same year, and sales increased by nearly 16%. The formula was clear: commit to a character, commit to the bit, and let the humor do the heavy lifting.
The New World: Humor at Scale
Then the feed happened. Social media didn't just change where people saw ads, it changed who they trusted. Audiences started walking away from traditional areas and started following creators whose entire job was to make them laugh every single day. Brands noticed. Instead of spending millions producing a single funny commercial, smart marketers began partnering with 10, 20, or 50 comedy creators who already had loyal audiences built on trust and a shared sense of humor.
The model flipped. Take Jake Shane, whose TikTok series about Popsicles racked up 26 million views before Popsicle even got involved. When the brand did step in, they gave him creative freedom, even letting him develop a custom all-cherry product line. The brand didn't create the humor. They joined it. That's the new playbook: find the creators whose voice already sounds like your brand at its best, hand them the product, and get out of the way.
The tools have changed completely since Henson was blowing up puppets to sell coffee in a can. The screens are smaller, the formats are shorter, and the audience has never been harder to impress. But the truth underneath all of it hasn't moved an inch; make people laugh, and they'll remember you. Make them laugh consistently, and they'll stay.