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Product type | Breakfast cereal |
---|---|
Owner | General Mills |
Country | United States |
Introduced | 1956 |
Markets | USA, Canada, Latin America, and Europe |
Cocoa Puffs is an American brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. [1] Introduced in 1956, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn and rice flavored with cocoa. Cocoa Puffs have the same shape as Kix and Trix cereal.
Cocoa Puffs are sold in Canada, Latin America, and Europe under the Nesquik brand, via the Cereal Partners Worldwide agreement between Nestlé and General Mills.
On several occasions, the cereal used Hershey's cocoa in its recipe, and this aspect was heavily promoted in Cocoa Puffs boxes and commercials. [2]
In December 2009, General Mills announced that it would cut the sugar in 10 kinds of cereal, including Cocoa Puffs, to less than 10 grams per serving. This could represent a 25% decline in the sugar content from the original level and 18% from the 2009 level of 11 grams per serving. [3]
In 2020, General Mills bought back the retro recipes for four ready-to-eat cereals: Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, Cookie Crisp, and Trix, claiming, "Cocoa Puffs now delivers more chocolatey taste." [4]
In August 2024, two class-action lawsuits were filed alleging that Cocoa Puffs cereal contains elevated levels of lead. The complaints, seeking $5 million in damages, cite a recent study by George Washington University researchers that found lead in 43% of 72 consumer cocoa products analyzed. The study, conducted over eight years, identified lead levels exceeding established guidelines in many products. These findings align with a 2023 Consumer Reports analysis that detected high levels of lead or cadmium in 16 of 48 tested chocolate products. [5]
A cereal bar of Cocoa Puffs has been made. A layer of dried, sweetened condensed milk is added to the bottom and marketed as a substitute for a bowl of milk and cereal.
In the summer of 2008, a new addition was introduced: Cocoa Puffs Combos, which consists of the recognizable chocolate puffs combined with vanilla puffs.
Besides Cocoa Puffs Combos, there are varieties of popular cereals. One such example was Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch in 2011. The front of the box described that cereal as "naturally and artificially flavored sweetened chocolate squares."
The mascot of Cocoa Puffs, Sonny, an orange Cuckoo bird, was introduced in 1962. In most commercials, Sonny attempts to stay away from his favorite cereal, mostly by doing a different activity, but ends up coming across some reference to the cereal in the act (usually described by the adjectives "munchy," "crunchy," and "chocolatey"), causing him to burst in energy, exclaiming his catchphrase "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" when he's reached his limit. [6] Sonny was voiced by Chuck McCann from 1962 to 1978, and has been voiced by Larry Kenney since 1978. [7]
The line "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" has entered the vernacular as a term for somebody who is irrational. [8]
Sonny's name comes from the original format of the commercials, in which he was paired with his grandfather (also voiced by McCann). When the grandfather was dropped from the ads, "Sonny" remained the character's name. In 2010, Gramps returned to the Cocoa Puffs ads, with McCann reprising his role as Gramps and Kenney continuing to voice Sonny.
Sonny was designed by Gene Cleaves. Animation pioneer "Grim" Natwick (of Fleischers' Betty Boop team) also contributed to the early images of Sonny and Gramps, according to then-contemporaries who collaborated with Natwick. [9]
Sonny was initially depicted as wearing a pink-and-white striped shirt. In 1995, he was redesigned, this time wearing 1990s "extreme" clothes and being given a more Disney-esque appearance. In 2004, he was redesigned more simplistically, this time without clothing.
Lucky Charms is a brand of breakfast cereal produced by General Mills since 1964. The cereal consists of multi-colored marshmallows and pieces of shaped pulverized oat, each resembling one of several objects or symbols associated with good luck. The packaging and marketing features a leprechaun mascot, Lucky.
Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from processed cereal grains that are eaten as part of breakfast, or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies.
Cap'n Crunch is a corn and oat breakfast cereal manufactured since 1963 by Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo since 2001. Since the original product introduction, marketed simply as Cap'n Crunch, Quaker Oats has since introduced numerous flavors and seasonal variations, some for a limited time—and currently offers a Cap'n Crunch product line.
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company originally gained fame for being a large flour miller. It is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Rice Krispies is a breakfast cereal produced by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and by Kellanova for the rest of the world. Rice Krispies are made of crisped rice. When milk is added to the cereal the rice tends to collapse, creating the characteristic "snap, crackle and pop" sounds.
Trix is an American brand of breakfast cereal made by General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the North American market and by Cereal Partners elsewhere in the world. The cereal consists of fruit-flavored, sweetened, ground-corn pieces.
Kix is an American brand of breakfast cereal introduced in 1937 by the General Mills company of Golden Valley, Minnesota. The product is an extruded, expanded puffed-grain cereal made with cornmeal.
Post Consumer Brands, LLC is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.
Honey Smacks is a sweetened puffed wheat breakfast cereal made by Kellogg's, noted for its high sugar content. It was introduced in the early 1950s.
Cocoa Krispies is a breakfast cereal produced by WK Kellogg Co, coming both as a boxed cereal and as a snack bar with a 'dried milk' covered bottom. It is a cocoa flavored version of Rice Krispies that contains real chocolate. In Canada, Rice Krispies Cocoa is their variant of the cereal, with a lighter chocolate flavor. Off-brand "coco krispies" are sold by other companies.
Puff may refer to:
Reese's Puffs is a corn-based breakfast cereal manufactured by General Mills inspired by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. At its launch in May 1994 the cereal consisted of corn puffs flavored with chocolate and peanut butter. Later, the formula was revised to be a mixture of chocolate puffs and peanut butter puffs.
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans mixed with fat and powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. There are several types of chocolate, classified primarily according to the proportion of cocoa and fat content used in a particular formulation.
CoCo Wheats is a brand of instant, chocolate flavored breakfast cereal introduced in 1930 and currently owned by Post Holdings. The brand was originally owned by Little Crow Foods, and bought by MOM Brands in 2012. Three years later, MOM Brands was bought by Post Holdings in 2015.
Baker's Chocolate is a brand name for the line of baking chocolates owned by Kraft Heinz. Products include a variety of bulk chocolates, including white and unsweetened, and sweetened coconut flakes. It is one of the largest national brands of chocolate in the United States. The company was originally named Walter Baker & Company.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:
Fiber One is a brand of high-fiber breakfast cereal, packaged nutritional bars, and baked food products owned by General Mills. Originally released as a breakfast cereal in 1985, it directly competes with Kellogg’s All-Bran.
Nesquik, also known as Nestlé Nesquik and Nesquik Cereal, is a family of breakfast cereals made by Cereal Partners Worldwide in a joint venture between of the American company General Mills and the Swiss company Nestlé, and based on the popular Nesquik product line.
Nesquik is a brand of food products made by Swiss company Nestlé. In 1948, Nestlé launched a drink mix for chocolate-flavored milk called Nestlé Quik in the United States; this was released in Europe during the 1950s as Nesquik.