It's 2018 So a Guy Dressed as the Kool-Aid Man Is Running for Mayor in Two Canadian Cities

Several years ago, TIME magazine made a list of the Top 10 Creepiest Product mascots, which included the Hamburglar, Count Chocula, and those weird misshapen Quiznos rodents that you’d forgotten about until this very minute. The list also included the Kool-Aid Man, the sentient pitcher of juice that would excitedly run through sheetrock and brick everytime someone yelled, “Hey Kool-Aid!”

The giant pitcher’s willingness to destroy both public and private property is what TIME took issue with: “Why did he have to cause such a mess every time he entered the scene?” the magazine harrumphed.

A Canadian city is currently dealing with its own Kool-Aid Man, although this version is less likely to run through a wall than he is to encourage twentysomethings to vote. He was also on not one, but two of this fall’s ballots—or at least he was, until this weekend.

According to the CBC, when local comedian Danny Nunes realized how apathetic the 11,000-plus residents of Terrace, British Columbia were about the upcoming mayoral elections, he decided that he would run for office. He also decided that he would do it while dressed as a giant pitcher of Kool-Aid, while carrying a sign that said “Oh Yeah!” Nunes-as-Mr. Kool-Aid was the only challenger who registered to face current mayor, Carol Leclerc.

“Rather than break through walls we’re gonna break through your hearts,” he said as he campaigned earlier this summer. “That’s going to be a Hallmark card, by the way.” This is the second time that Nunes has run for office; according to the Columbia Valley Pioneer, he was on the mayoral ballot in Kitimat in 2011 and, despite using “Don’t Vote for Danny” as his campaign slogan, he received 3.5 percent of the vote. (Nunes had filed the paperwork to run for mayor of Kitimat again this fall).

But the challenges and criticisms of two political campaigns apparently caught up with the 35-year-old, and over the weekend he wrote on Facebook that he would be withdrawing from both races. “I have to take into consideration what comes with an election and the effect it could have on those closest to me as others who want to go after me could do so through them. No one should have to suffer because they became a target for harassment because off me,” he posted. “The response in my so-called hometown has just confirmed what I saw and learned over the last decade—I feel nothing but contempt and shame for the discourse and the behavior I see all the time on both social media and in real life situations.” In a second post, Nunes said that he had the “best of intentions” when he started his campaign (and the #YouthVote initiative that accompanied it).

“While it is true I plan to withdraw from the election, I have not submitted my letters to withdraw just yet,” Nunes told MUNCHIES. “What changed my mind was that basically I had accomplished what I set out to do already, which was to draw attention to an election that was seeing so many mayors and councillors getting in by acclamation, and I wanted young adults to be aware of the election. That is why I put on the suit. I am very happy with the feedback and positive messages I received from people telling me I had encouraged them to vote for the first time. Some were even inspired to run for council in their communities. I have decided to drop out because I felt it would be wrong to be elected simply based on what would have been a protest vote.”

With Nunes pulling himself out of the race, Leclerc will presumably run unopposed. “I truly believe I would have gone on to win in the mayoral race, but a Kool-Aid Man should not win an election,” he said. “I do think this will make Carol and the future Terrace council take notice, and now local voters will be watching them more intently in the next four years. No one wants to be remembered as the woman who could have lost the mayoral race to a guy in a costume. If she does not do an effective job, a Kool-Aid Man can always return in four years.

He said that he feels like he got his message across, and that he and his giant red suit had a positive impact on those two local elections—if not one the greater area as well. “I think the takeaway from all of this is [that] we need to really counteract the negativity and partisanship we are seeing in politics today, or risk having the next generation grow so cynical and jaded at what they are seeing and reading on social media that they continue to stay away from elections,” he said. “That will have a very devastating impact on democracy.”

So yeah, maybe a few more people will make it to the polls—for the rest of the ballot—because of him. That’s worth an “Ohhhh yeahhhh,” right there.