Creepy Mascots as a Marketing Trend

There's a recent marketing trend in which companies turn their traditionally wholesome mascots into funny-creepy CGI approximations of the old versions. Cheetos did it with their "Orange Underground" campaign, in commercials such as this one, in which the sinister Cheetah encourages a girl to dump the bright orange Cheetos in a woman's white laundry.

Now, M&Ms (I accidentally typed that as M$Ms, which will be the way I refer to them from now on) has done it in this spot. In the M$Ms commercial, a big blue M$M with a chimo -- child molester -- hairpiece sits on a couch in a suburban-looking living room, licking himself. The voice over says "When you're an M$M, you'll really enjoy the way you taste." A motherly looking woman walks in and says, with alarm, "Are you licking yourself?" The blue M$M says "What? What'd you say?" while he continues to graphically lick himself.

If you read Perezhilton.com, you will understand my association of Cheetos with Britney Spears walking barefoot out of a public restroom. Because of that association, I will never buy Cheetos. But I will laugh at their commercials, and I'm on my way to get some M$Ms right now.

I hope this trend continues!

UPDATE: An anonymous commenter has pointed me to the Burger King, who is absolutely creepy. In fact, he was probably the first mascot reinterpreted as creepy. I can't think of an earlier one.

Check out this commercial, the one in which the Burger King peeps through windows.