Free children’s books inside Cheerios
November 13, 2006
General Mills will be packing 5 million boxes of Cheerios with one of five free children’s books. Now these aren’t promotional comic books starring the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee, mind you. These are real honest to goodness books published by Simon & Schuster and written by some pretty darn good authors (well, I’m assuming).
This is all part of the annual Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories campaign. To date, Big G has given away 20 million books with this program.
So if you have kids, skip the Fruity Pebbles this week and buy a box of Cheerios.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Cheerios, General Mills, children, books
Posted by Randy at 5:42pm
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Chocolatey Peanut Butter Crunch cereal review
November 11, 2006
Cap’n Crunch broke new flavor ground when Quaker came up with Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch. Remember, with the big brown elephant, Smedley? “Eat too much of that cereal, and you’re gonna turn into one of those,” my grandpap used to tell me.
For decades they had the corner on peanut butter flavored cereal. That is, until General Mills came out with Reese’s Puffs
So now, Quaker strikes back with their own concoction. I had high hopes, since I have a special place in my heart for the Cap’n Crunch brand. But it’s not so good.
The peanut butter flavor is okay, but the chocolate sucks. It’s more of a Tootsie Roll faux chocolate than a Hershey’s chocolate, which equals “yuck.” It’s very artificial and chemical, like cheap Halloween candy. I’m trying to figure out what ingredient gives it that awful taste — is is alkali? Science majors, little help.
Bottom line: sorry Cap’n… Resse’s wins this battle.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Quaker, Cap’n Crunch, Chocolatey Peanut Butter Crunch, Reese’s, review
Posted by Randy at 5:38pm
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Pre-order your Monster Cereal action figures NOW!
November 10, 2006
Yes, NOW!!
Well, you don’t have to. But I say screw the PS3 and the Wii, because ToyTokyo.com is accepting pre-orders for Medicom of Japan’s brand new line of General Mills Monster Cereal Kubricks.
Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula will be available in a three pack for $44.99 — and we’re talking the classic sleepy-eyed stoner versions of our beloved characters, not the newer bug-eyed crack addicted renditions.
So now my secret admirers know what I want for Christmas. Wasn’t that easy?
Props to DustinCrops
Technorati Tags: cereal, Frankenberry, Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Kubrick, Medicom, Japan, toytokyo, PS3, Wii
Posted by Randy at 12:01am
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Quaker Oats under fire again
November 07, 2006
An oven fire, that is, at their cereal plant in Ontario Canada.
Local firefighters got the call at about 10am Sunday morning, but Quaker’s own emergency response team had extinguished the fire themselves by the time they arrived.
There were no injuries, and no damage to the building or the oven, but…
…some cereal product was lost.
A HUGE disaster, in my book.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Quaker, fire, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Posted by Randy at 11:53pm
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Quaker Oat’s new ad campaign… warning: contains brief nudity!
November 06, 2006
Quaker is currently airing a series of commercials in Britain featuring the nation’s beloved 60’s stop-motion character, Windy Miller. He’s kind of like their equivalent of our Gumby.
The latest spot features Windy’s uncle Guber, a nudist from Norway.
Guber’s bits n’ pieces are strategically blocked by objects on the set as he walks around (think Austin Powers). But after Windy hands his uncle a bowl of Oatso Simple porridge, we get a quick glimpse of Guber’s mature Norwegian glory.
Quaker Co. has received no complaints about the old man’s genitals making an appearance. However, some Brits have taken offense at the advert’s very painful ending. Yee-ouch.
Here it is, via YouTube:
Read more: Metro article
Technorati Tags: cereal, Quaker, Oatso Simple, Windy Miller, commercial
Posted by Randy at 4:09am
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Maple Pecan Crisp cereal review
November 04, 2006
I’m deliberately trying to include products from smaller cereal companies in my weekly reviews. Well, Sweet Home Farm, the makers of Maple Pecan Crisp, is so small…
How small are they?
They don’t even have a web site.
But that’s okay. Some small companies like to stay that way.
On with the review. Maple Pecan Crisp is a tasty blend of corn flakes, oat clusters, and pecans, sweetened with maple syrup. The corn flakes are much heavier and a tad saltier than the Kellogg’s standard, just shy of tasting like baked tortilla chips. The pecans are awesome — we’re not talking pecan slivers here, we’re talking whole pecan pieces. The oat clusters are good, but nothing to write home about, tasting like the granola chunks found in a hundred other cereals.
One unusual thing about Sweet Home Farm is the way they package their cereals. They use milk cartons. What’s next… milk in soda cans?? I’ll go now.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Sweet Home Farm, Maple Pecan Crisp, review
Posted by Randy at 5:43pm
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Anatomy of a cereal character
November 03, 2006
The Seattle Times ran an article yesterday by William Weir of the Hartford Courant about corporate brand characters and the importance of what makes them tick.
The story focuses on a Portland-based marketing company who goes by the plain-jane name Character. Their job is to create a back story, assign a psychological profile, and define the motivations for classic company mascots.
Naturally, their clients include cereal industry heavyweights Kellogg’s and General Mills.
From the article:
A successful story, marketers say, is one that speaks to a fundamental truth about the human condition. It’s no longer enough for Sonny the bird to tell us he’s cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs; we need to understand the inner demons that drive the poor bird close to insanity.
Absolutely hysterical. But it’s true — I would love to see a Cocoa Puffs commercial where a more three dimensional, real world Sonny has to check into a psychiatric ward because of his overwhelming addiction to the chocolately cereal.
Illustration courtesy of the awesome graphic novel, Breakfast of the Gods.
Technorati Tags: cereal, advertising, character, mascots, Cocoa Puffs, Seattle Times, Hartford Courant, Kellogg’s, General Mills
Posted by Randy at 5:41am
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Cereal costumes on collegehumor.com
November 01, 2006
Okay, Halloween 2006 is over — but its photos live forever.
Cereal characters were a popular costume choice among fancy college students this year, especially on campuses located in the eastern U.S….
Michigan State:
Northeastern U:
Penn State:
…and uh, Penn State again:
Hmmm… I think I’ve found my target audience. Indeed.
Props to College Humor.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Halloween, costumes, College Humor, Michigan State University, Northeastern University, Penn State
Posted by Randy at 9:36pm
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Coverpop.com does cereal
November 01, 2006
I’ve seen Jim Bumgardner’s animated photo mosaics before, but didn’t realize he had made one out of 1,300 different cereal box images.
Every frickin’ cereal you can think of is represented, mostly vintage boxes.
Props to you, Krazydad, and your mad perl scripting skills.
If you have 8 hours to kill while you’re at work, take a look at his site. He has lots of other coverpops to help make your day less productive.
Technorati Tags: coverpop, cereal, krazydad, jim bumgardner
Posted by Randy at 6:22am
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Happy Halloween from Cereal Buzz
October 31, 2006
In honor of the holiday, I present to you the only cereal mascot in history who was soooo damn scary, he had to be taken off the store shelves back in 1982:
Yeah, kids used to have NIGHTMARES about this guy. I never had a chance to try Fruit Brute cereal, but if it tasted anything like Yummy Mummy, then good riddance. BLEECH.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Halloween, Fruit Brute, Yummy Mummy, Reservoir Dogs
Posted by Randy at 12:00am
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