1990 was truly the year of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and arguably the biggest the franchise has ever gotten. It saw the release of the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, it sent the Turtles on a concert tour to stop the rapping Shredder from getting rid of all of the world’s music, and Burger King got in on the Turtle Mania with their own massively successful promotion: a series of exclusive VHS tapes.

Okay, so “exclusive” might arguably be a generous word as they were all just episodes of the cartoon show. But it’s hard to imagine any fast food chain selling videos today (probably because they don’t make videos anymore), though Burger King wasn’t the only restaurant to do it. Years later, Pizza Hut would have a similar campaign for X-Men tapes (which came with comic books!), while McDonald’s would not only release a number of movies at a bargain price (everything from The Addams Family to An American Tail: Fievel Goes West), but they’d also put out a collection of bizarre Ronald McDonald cartoons. But that’s a subject for another OT.

For now, let’s talk about the advertising for those Turtles tapes. In the commercial aimed directly at kids, we have Kid Vid from the Burger King Kids Club (RIP the Burger King Kids Club Kids, gone way too soon in 1999) hanging out with the green gang, and he seems to be in total awe of them. “They’re teenagers! They’re ninjas!” Raph is having none of this and makes one of his signature snarky quips, which seems to push Kid Vid over the edge, as he immediately zaps the turtle with his weapon of choice: a TV remote control? Look, it was the 90s. Trust me when I say it made sense back then.

And speaking of the 90s, how about we move on to something more…extreme? You wanna know what’s the most epic thing you can do to your VCR? Why, popping in one of Burger King’s Ninja Turtles videos, of course! Never mind that they were recorded on SLP (for you youngsters, that stands for “Shitty Long Playback”). They would cause your VCR to shoot actual fucking flames! COWABUNGA! Make sure you don’t watch these tapes without a fire extinguisher nearby, dudes!

Have a radical night, y’all!