“Oh yeah, here comes Kool-Aid.” If reading those words immediately elicits Proust-like flashbacks to an anthropomorphic pitcher of sugary-sweet, artificially flavored beverage crashing fecklessly through suburban walls, then this post is for you. Because the aforementioned advertising mascot is one of several featured in “10 Most Ridiculous Cartoon Character Makeovers,” an online rundown to which you’ll find a link below. As the title suggests, the Kool-Aid Man, along with some other more-or-less iconic characters first encountered by many of us during childhood TV-viewing, has been updated since his original incarnation—and the author of the article isn’t happy about it. Click on through and see how you feel about the marketing savvy behind these stylistic overhauls.

> 10 Most Ridiculous Cartoon Character Makeovers

Wait, before we get started here, let me say it one more time: “Super Bowl!”

Sounds like I’m really excited about last week’s big game, doesn’t it? Or maybe you’re thinking, since this is an ad agency blog, that my enthusiasm is related to the big, expensive TV spots that aired during the broadcast (which, by most accounts, enthused no one).

Actually, my Tourette’s-like repetition has nothing to do with either. Instead, I’m engaged in an act of minor defiance.

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