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In early 1969, ad executive Ted Bates, representing Mars, Inc. (known for candy products such as M&Ms and Twix), approached Jim Henson about making a commercial promoting Sprint Chocolate Wafers, a combination cookie/candy bar.
Henson’s first idea was to create a two-headed creature who had opposing views of the wafer; one head thought it was a cookie while the other thought it was candy. To add a visual contrast, Henson devised the left head to have a smokestack on top to punctuate his speech with a "toot", and the right with a light bulb-like protrusion on top that would light up and “ding" (much like the creatures he created for the "Business Business" sketch performed on The Ed Sullivan Show).
According to Henson’s notes from his original proposal, the creature would have been a live-hand puppet, and like other devouring Muppet monsters of the era, it would also have a throat opening so it could really eat the product (as Henson wrote "Very effective puppet business").
Although humanoid characters were used for the commercial instead, Henson's original concepts and designs for the two-headed creature were integrated into Sesame Street's Two-Headed Monster, as well as the Honkers and Dingers.
External links
- Falk, Karen. "Jim Henson's Red Book", 2/27/1969 – Shoot commercial – Sprint – Candy Bar.