The World According to John K.

John Kricfalusi, the mind that gave us The Ren and Stimpy Show, The Ripping Friends and The Goddamn George Liquor Program has a plan to make you watch the ads you see online. In fact, his goal is to make it so you won't even realize you're watching a commercial.

Kricfalusi -- better known as John K. -- isn't exactly known for bending to the will of studios or censors. This is, after all, the guy who was dismissed from Ren and Stimpy after producing an episode that ended with a character being savagely beaten with a boat oar. Now, he's devised a series of Flash-animated advertisements for VOIP provider Raketu. But this isn't the typical case of selling out. Kricfalusi genuinely wants to bring creativity back to advertising while promoting his animation. Plus, he gets to be way naughtier online than on the TV.

It all started a few years ago when he produced a series of web shorts for Tower Records -- for free.

This led to animation deals with Old Navy and then Raketu. The one-minute shorts hawking the virtues of Raketu feature some of Kricfalusi's most bombastic characters (including the hilarious George Liquor) and are punctuated by Kricfalusi's signature style of bright, entertaining and somewhat retro animation.

This form of advertising has been around for decades. Remember when Fred Flintstone peddled Winston cigarettes? But Kricfalusi thinks that his online offering, which carries his distinctive storytelling, will change attitudes toward advertising on the web, kind of like what HBO did for TV. Starting Thursday, you can be the judge.

That's when Kricfalusi's ads go live on , as well as his blog, all kinds of stuff.

Wired News sat down with John K. and chatted about the future of online advertisement, his new project with Raketu and, of course, the fate of Ren and Stimpy. (To check out John K.'s Raketu shorts, click here and here.)

Wired News: You make the cartoons for the love of it. Any guilt about making ads?

John K.: Guilt? This is America. I'm a capitalist. I would feel guilty if I didn't sell the product well and if I bored the audience. I have a duty to the sponsor and the audience. Making those two people happy is a lot easier than making a hundred TV execs happy while making the audience and sponsor unhappy. That makes me feel really guilty.

Wired News: The World According to John K.