Sunday, February 06, 2011

The Munch Bunch

One of the most impressive developments of the 1990s was the discovery of how to extract every drop of charm from concepts that had previously been twee but delightful. To avoid breaking hearts all over town, I'll present the horrors first, followed by the originals.

By the late nineties, this was The Munch Bunch, 'tood-crazy yogurt shills



But fifteen years earlier, they had been a low-budget but sweetly wiggy puppet show featuring (in this episode) an incredible reggae jam, a weeping onion and some mad Moog incidental music. This is genuinely the same thing.



Another egregious instance of this madness was Sugar Puffs' Honey Monster campaign. By the mid-nineties he had become a faintly sinister character, puffed up not with wheat but SOLID 'TOOD!



This was the original campaign, little short of genius.



I do sense that there is a concerted attempt of late to retrieve the baby in this case, even if the bathwater is long gone.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

not sure which i'd prefer, the honey monster from the cereal commercial, or the honey monster from my company's product list: honey monster

Lizz said...

I used to love the Munch Bunch books http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222450128l/8105.jpg

Elsie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elsie said...

Oh good gravy, I distinctly remember a Munch Bunch jingle from the early 90's but can't remember where it was from. It certainly wasn't from the pool-playing tweens ad. But the pear from the puppet show looks familiar?
UGH. This is going to plague me for weeks.

Nicole Robitaille said...

This reminds me a bit of John Kricfalusi's rants against "tude," which I enjoy very much.

Anonymous said...

Like Lizz, I used to love the Munch Bunch books...

But I never knew they re-jiggered them for a new generation!

My childhood memories have been destroyed FOREVER!!!

Thank you for pouring swarfega on my memories, John...

John A said...

"Destroyed my childhood memories" was a phrase minted when Warner Bros invented the "Lunatix", wasn't it?

It is nonsense, unless your childhood was spent in a state that later engaged in widespread book-burning. (Or, one assumes from the normal context of such a remark, widespread burning of puerile eighties toy cartoon tie-ins*).

In this case, you can actually relive your childhood memories for a full ten minutes, including "Banana Rock", the ultimate reggae jam!

I had the Munch Bunch books too, although I preferred The Garden Gang, similarly written by a child but pleasingly coloured in in felt tip.

*"Thunder-men", "Robo-Lads", "Space Cutlass", "Hawk Brothers", "Cyber Pony Club"

Anonymous said...

The trend is alive and well. A friend of mine recently alerted me to what's become of Pinky and Perky. How's that for 'tude? Ugh.

Mark said...

Hmm, the Honey Monster seems young but I guess he's not to Dr. Smith's taste.

Lizz said...

ACH! I loved the Garden Gang! I'd totally forgotten about those books until I saw your link. I wonder if I still have any stored in the loft... The felt tip colouring was great. Brilliant books.