Breakfast Cereal Mascots: Beloved and Bizarre

CBS News ^

[nickcarraway]

A 2011 article in Pediatrics magazine found that children who had been asked to taste a "new" cereal reported liking the same cereal more if there were a popular character depicted on the box. "The use of media characters on food packaging affects children's subjective taste assessment," the study concluded.

Little surprise, given the long history of breakfast cereal manufacturers marketing their wares with the help of colorful cartoon characters or figures already familiar from TV, movies and comic books.

The following gallery shows some of the more famous (and infamous) breakfast cereal mascots.

Left: Quisp, introduced in 1965 by Quaker Oats, was discontinued in the 1970s, but in recent years has returned to Earth via online outlets.

[boop]

You know a creal is going to suck if it has a lame-o PC character on the box.

[boop]

When the Monster cereals first came out, moms freaked out because kids started having pink poop. Doctors were puzzled.

It took a while to figure out that the youngsters were eating Frankenberry.

[Defiant]

OMG. That Prince of Thieves cereal is pornographic. Explains the upswing in homosexuality among young people.

[Clemenza]

"Now you call yourself Frankenberry, but back in Hebrew school, it was Frankenstein!"

A cookie if you get my reference.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I’m blanking...

[Bigg Red]

I went back and read it, and I can see that you are correct, PJ. Excellent explanation, too. Thanks.

The piece is still awkward writing, though, IMO.

[Colonel_Flagg]

My favorite:

[Political Junkie Too]

Well, as Arthur McGowan pointed out, the unreal situation is not so unreal as boxes contain and don't contain characters, so it could be a case of misapplied subjunctive rather than subject/verb mismatch.

Rather than the author writing "...children who had been asked to taste a "new" cereal reported liking the same cereal more if there were a popular character depicted on the box," he should have written, "children who had been asked to taste a "new" cereal reported liking the same cereal more if when there were was a popular character depicted on the box."

Anyway, that's how I would have written it if I were the writer. :-)

-PJ

[Clemenza]

Adam Carolla in the short-lived “Drawn Together.” Show was hit and miss but that was a funny episode.

[fieldmarshaldj]

OK, yeah. Can’t remember if I saw that episode. It seems like the quality of original shows on Comedy Central has gotten progressively worse. I miss the old block of shows that accompanied South Park, that being Chappelle’s Show and Reno 911!.

[Political Junkie Too]

Your child would be taken away from you today if you put this cereal box on the breakfast table.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

Replacing first image.

-PJ

[Crusher138]

Quisp - my favorite cereal EVER!

[Waywardson]

You LIE !!

[P.O.E.]

[boop]

I love Quisp too. It's one of the very rare cereals that hasn't been messed with from an ingredient standpoint. None of this gluten-free, low sugar, high fiber crap that turns to mush 5 seconds after you pour milk on it.

I buy it by the case. Tears the roof of my mouth something fierce, but worth it.