Anyone remember Garfield? I know that’s a dumb question, since Garfield is one of the most recognizable cartoon/comic characters in the world. For the few who are uninitiated, Garfield is a fat feline who loves eating lasagna and sleeping constantly. His owner is the lovable loser John Arbuckle, who also owns an overly excited dog named Odie.

Most stories usually involve Jon putting up with Garfield’s shenanigans, or Jon’s constant attempts to find a significant other. The most popular iteration of Garfield by far was the “Garfield and Friends” series, which most people agree is one of the only things to come out of Garfield. Garfield and Friends (along with its various specials) are one of the few things Jim Davis hasn’t run into the ground.

So, that brings us to this old (yet rather well-known) commercial for Mexican Cartoon Network made in the year 2000. It’s 30 seconds of “What the hell did I just watch?”, and it’s awesome. The commercial itself mostly re-uses animation cells from the show, but uses them in a rather… Unique fashion.

The commercial itself starts with Jon walking into the house and finding it completely destroyed. As Jon questions why the house is in shambles, Garfield stares forward with a menacing grin. Jon continues to walk around the house, continually asking Garfield what’s going on. The fat cat doesn’t do anything, aside from grin like a Cheshire Cat.

The commercial ends with Garfield advancing on Jon, supposedly devouring him. The final shot of the commercial is just Garfield spitting out Jon’s shoe, complete with a cartoonish sound effect. So yeah, this commercial is a thing that exists. One may wonder why a Spanish Garfield ad would take a horror-themed route. While I don’t speak Spanish, I get the feeling that it was made for a Halloween marathon/airing of some kind.

The general concept does remind me of those Garfield flash games, particularly “Garfield’s Scary Scavenger Hunt”. Regardless of why the commercial was made, it is rather entertaining for what it is. It’s nice to see a commercial take a dark spin on an established character, even if it’s mostly reused animation and stock backgrounds. It definitely did something that the owners of Garfield haven’t done for years now: Try something new.


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