And the most ineffective. He was the evil “Mr. Coffee Nerves” — the anti-spokesman for coffee substitute Postum. And his 1950s ads were pure fucking insanity.

Scream, young man. SCREAM!

Via alisonundercover.blogspot.com

Postum was created in 1895 by C.W. Post as a healthy caffeine-free alternative to evil black coffee. Their marketing strategy, right from the get-go, was to try to paint coffee as basically the worst thing since the plague. (Here's some of their early 20th century ad images).

In the mid-20th century, they introduced Mr. Coffee Nerves to America. The copy on these comic ads is so over-the-top, you'd swear it was satire. But it isn't. As you'll see, Postum tried to blame coffee for everything from runaway children to divorces to not getting laid.

Alas, Kraft stopped making and selling Postum in 2007.

SO: MR. COFFEE NERVES WINS IN THE END.

Coffee substitute, my ass.