Back in the day—say, from 1975 until the early-’90s—sunny, happy commercials with jaunty jingles were all too common across our great nation’s analog TVs.

Irony didn’t enter into it. This was simply the stylistic lingua franca of the times. Breakfast cereals provided particularly fertile ground for such excursions.

Which brings us to Dentsu Creative’s latest work for Totino’s pizza rolls.

Here, self-conscious irony emerges from the oven piping hot. Spots drip with faux-happy imagery and touches of strange, employing comic-book absurdity to cast Totino’s as “Wakey Wakey” A.M. food for teens.

Check out the mutant freezer arm, mom’s pizza-roll mustache, a malevolent rising sun and more:

Such inspired stupidity’s the way to start the day!

The boffo-banal theme song—”Their tasty and they’re great. Check out the morning news update!”—seals the deal.

Nostalgia’s always in. Just ask McDonald’s. But Totino’s transcends the throwback trend. This stuff evokes Reagan-Bush era tropes, then amps up the silliness while maintaining a firm brand focus throughout. Plus, the wacky approach works even if you’re too young to recall commercials of yore.

Well played, saucy morsels!

Now, keep Mr. Sun the hell away from me. Mom, too…

The post Totino’s Rolls With Throwback Breakfast Ad Spoofs. Things Get Silly first appeared on Muse by Clios.