Since when has the fun-lovin', party-crashin' Kool Aid pitcher started wearing pants?

Until a month ago or so, I hadn't seen this jovial juice giant for quite some time. I actually wondered where he was. Or if he, like the old football-toting Gino's icon, was no more ... replaced by an icon more wizened and wise. (That'd be trusty yet not quite crusty finger-licker Colonel Sanders.) Then, when I least expected it — just like old times! — the Kool Aid guy burst onto the screen of my good ol' fashioned teevee set, and I fairly leapt to my feet, unable to restrain my giddy glee.

But what was this? Something was different about the jolly pitcher. Was he wearing ... oh my god, yes, he was ... he was sporting pants! Pants! There was no mistaking it. I even pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But lo, there he was, in all his cheery cherry glory ... in dark-wash dungarees (no, not jeans ... dungarees) yanked way up to the base of his grinning glass pitcher head.

So ... when did this happen? And why?

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, the party's over. It's about as fizzless as the powdered soft drink mix touted by the pantsified pitcher. And that's definitely not Kool.