That time the Addams Family starred in a series of Japanese car commercials

Popverse's top stories of the day

• Marvel is bringing back the West Coast Avengers, starring Iron Man, War Machine and... Ultron as a good guy?
• Batman has a new boss: DC's next Gotham editor has been chosen
• Glorfindel is coming to Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - here's what you need to know

Just because they’re creepy, kooky, and inexplicably wealthy doesn’t mean that The Addams Family isn’t above endorsing the occasional product. When Addams Family Values hit cinemas back in 1993, their brand had never been bigger, so they were tasked with trying to make the 1995 Honda Odyssey look cool to Japanese audiences. The result is a series of strange, fever dreams that live in the annals of pop culture history.

The ads in question aired in 1994, the year after Addams Family Values hit cinemas. Most feature the characters from the movie dancing, crawling, and twirling around the car in question while a Japanese voice-over implies that the Honda Odyssey is a “happiness factory.” The other sees the Addamses heading on a road trip to the Grand Canyon to dangle precipitously over the edge and play golf.

The ads' manic energy is fairly typical of Japanese commercials of the era, but it fits in surprisingly well with the Addams Family’s vibe. Fester’s dancing is totally in-character for him and we even get to see Gomez and Morticia briefly embrace. The only thing that’s missing is Wednesday trying to run over Pugsley with the mini-van.

Weird is relative, and the iconic comic-turned-tv-turned-movie franchise that is Addams Family is the perfect picture of that. Several of the cast of the '90s movie franchise are coming to Seattle's ECCC 2024, and you can get first dibs on photo ops and autographs and watch their panel for free here at Popverse. You can also get to know Charles Addams' iconic family with our Addams Family watch guide, and stories on how Wednesday's Jenna Ortega thinks her character is "a creepy little freak" and how the Addams family got their names.