The unlucky little clay man Mr. Bill is back, starring in a debit MasterCard commercial to begin airing Monday. Whether your home is being foreclosed on, you have unpaid medical bills, or you can't just can't afford to buy groceries or gas up your car, you'll relate to Mr. Bill getting doused by a cup of coffee—or so ad execs are hoping. Mr. Bill taps into the "unsureness about what's going to happen next" feeling many of us have, ad lady Joyce King Thomas tells the Times. A feeling shared by the likes of Burger King, Ramada Inn, and Lexus, all of which Bill's shilled for previously.

Oh, and Pringles, that beacon of an unsure future—he's hocked their delicious wares, too.

But life wasn't always so chipper for Mr. Bill. While in the new commercial he undergoes a few indignities, it all works out in the end; he falls out of a high rise window but lands happy and unharmed on a bus windshield. Could be worse: Back in the day, he suffered far more violent abuses, including being impaled! He even had to suffer watching his little clay dog being put in a blender—all very tragic.

Mr. Bill was created by Walter Williams in 1974 and he first appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1976, leaving the show in 1980. Despite his many corporate accounts, he's not without his bounds, refusing to shill for beer and casinos. This new ad, you'll also note, isn't for a credit card but its more responsible cousin, the debit card (because in times like these, we never need to charge anything). What's more, Bill also appeared in pre-Katrina public service announcements about protecting New Orleans from hurricanes (if only we listened) and Williams uses Mr. Bill's commercial earnings to fund nonprofit work in the decimated city.