I found an old videotape my parents made of some TV episodes in early 1983 (January 1983, I think), and got re-acquainted with some of the commercials that disturbed me for one reason or another as a kid. I uploaded a few of them, just to have something to post when I don’t have a lot else to post. This is one of those times, so here’s one of the commercials that disturbed me the most; it ran during a Charlie Brown special.

What disturbed me the most about this commercial was not the hideous retro-’50s look of the thing, nor the butchering of a famous song. What scared me as a kid was that guy in the white hat. Why was the hat covering his eyes? What was he trying to hide? Why was he grinning in that evil way? Children realized too late that he didn’t want to eat delicious Dolly Madison cupcakes. He wanted to eat us. That nerd in the opening shot was the first one to go.