In 1957, Jim Henson was approached by the Wilkins Coffee Company of Washington, D.C. to produce commercials. The commercials had to be short, so what Henson came up with was an 8 second pitch followed by a two second product shot. They were short, but extremely effective. The ads featured Wilkins who was the pitch puppet, he loved coffee and Wontkins, who was a grumpy puppet who hated coffee. The commercials always involved Wilkins doing some bodily harm to Wontkins in some form (gun, club, hammer, etc).
If you listen to the commercials, the voices will sound eerily familiar. They were simple and hilarious as you will see.
Wilkins Coffee Commercials Volume 1
Wilkins Coffee Commercials Volume 2
Wilkins Coffee Commercials Volume 3
It’s funny you mention the Wilkins coffee commercials since G4TV’s “Attack of the Show” just parodied these ads on their 6/23 show. Maybes that’s what prompted you to post the videos. Jim Henson as Kermit is unmistakable in them.
Here’s the AOTS parody.
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/comedy/67497/Kevin-Pereira-and-Olivia-Munns-Coffee-Commercials.html