I wasn’t in the KISS Army as a child, but if you had told my young, pre-adolescent self that Paul Stanley would one day be featured in an ad for Folgers coffee, I probably would have thought it was the greatest Folger’s ad ever made. (Years later, I would have assumed Stanley was a total sell-out.)
But in 2000, KISS’ lead singer was indeed in a commercial for Folgers that never aired. Stanley wasn’t in his Starchild make-up, nor was he singing hard rock with euphemistic lyrics. He was basically wearing a Seinfeld puffy shirt, walking through a circus tent and holding a cup of coffee as a trapeze artist prepared herself for the day.
Yes, really. The trapeze artist was ready to fling herself through the air after drinking a cup of Folgers. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself.
“The limit is the sky… Hey, world — watch me fly!” That thud you hear is the collective sound of KISS fans’ foreheads hitting their keyboards in shame and disgust.
Or maybe not. After all, KISS fans had to live through the era of 1983 to 1996, during which the band didn’t wear its trademark make-up, favoring a brighter glam-rock look instead. Oh, and KISS recorded songs like “Let’s Put the X in Sex.” (“Love’s like a muscle, and you make me wanna flex.“)
Anyway, this ad never aired and it’s not clear why. Speculation is that Folgers executives didn’t want a rock star selling their coffee. Maybe Stanley’s people pulled the plug when they saw how awful the ad was. Or maybe everyone realized that this commercial was absolutely terrible and locked it away in a vault until it mysteriously popped up online nearly 15 years later.
