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Product type | Breakfast cereal |
---|---|
Owner | Quaker Oats |
Country | U.S. |
Introduced | 1968 |
Discontinued | 2021 |
King Vitaman was an American brand of breakfast cereal produced by Quaker Oats and sold in the United States. The cereal was introduced in 1968, and changed mascots several times. The cereal was discontinued in 2021. [1]
King Vitaman Cereal boasted high vitamin and iron content, in addition to a more modest amount of sugar (6 grams per serving) than many more popular breakfast cereals, such as Cap'n Crunch and Lucky Charms (which contain 13 grams or more). The early television commercials for the cereal were animated by Jay Ward Productions, the creators of Rocky and Bullwinkle . The advertising featured King Vitaman (voiced by character actor Joe Flynn) and his knights, Sir Laffitup (voiced by Paul Frees) and Sir Cravenleigh (voiced by Bill Scott), and their foes the Blue Baron (voiced by Daws Butler) and the Not-So-Bright Knight. The earlier commercials had King Vitaman tell his dimwitted knight to pour the milk over King Vitaman cereal, but instead the milk is poured over the king, prompting the king to say, angrily: "Not me, you dingaling, the cereal!" Subsequent non-animated advertisements ended with a jingle inviting children to "Have Breakfast with the King."
From 1971 until his death in 1977, actor George Mann, an ex-vaudevillian in the comedic dance act Barto and Mann, depicted King Vitaman on the cereal box and in television commercials. [2] In 2000, Quaker Oats returned to an illustrated character on their King Vitaman cereal boxes.
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.
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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.
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Cheerios is a brand of cereal manufactured by General Mills in the United States and Canada, consisting of pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Cheerios is marketed by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand; in Australia and New Zealand, Cheerios is sold as an Uncle Tobys product. It was first manufactured in 1941 as CheeriOats.
William John Scott was an American voice actor, writer and producer for animated cartoons, primarily associated with Jay Ward and UPA, as well as one of the founding members of ASIFA-Hollywood. He is probably best known as the head writer, co-producer and the voice of several characters from the popular programs Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show.
Life is a breakfast cereal produced by the Quaker Oats Company. Introduced in 1961, the cereal has a brown, checked square pattern and mainly consists of oat flour, corn flour, added sugar, and whole-wheat flour. As of 2018, because of the numerous varieties the cereal has, the original cereal is now marketed as "Life Original Multigrain Cereal".
Cocoa Puffs is an American brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. 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.
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Honey Monster Puffs is a breakfast cereal manufactured in the United Kingdom from puffed wheat sweetened with sugar and honey, fortified with vitamins and iron. The cereal was originally sold as Sugar Puffs, but was re-branded in 2014. It was labelled as Honey Monster Sugar Puffs for a time. The cereal is known for its Honey Monster mascot, a large, hairy, yellow creature introduced in 1976.
Crispy Critters was a breakfast cereal manufactured by Post Cereals starting in 1963. The sweetened cereal, made of oats, consisted of animal-shaped pieces similar to animal crackers. Television commercials featured a cartoon lion, Linus the Lionhearted, voiced by Sheldon Leonard, with the slogan "The one and only cereal that comes in the shape of animals," sung to the tune of "Trepak" from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet. The next year, Linus was spun off into a Saturday-morning cartoon show, which ran for two years on the CBS network, then reran on the ABC network for three more until 1969. After a decline in popularity, the cereal was discontinued.
Scott's Porage Oats is a Scottish breakfast cereal sold in the United Kingdom. The former Scott's Company was established in Glasgow by A&R Scott, two brothers who made a partnership to manufacture oat products. Scott's was purchased by Quaker Oats in 1982.
Little Mikey is a fictional boy played by John Gilchrist in an American television commercial promoting Quaker Oats' breakfast cereal Life. The ad was created by art director Bob Gage, who also directed the commercial. It first aired in 1971. The popular ad campaign featuring Mikey remained in regular rotation for more than 12 years and was one of the longest continuously running commercial campaigns.
Barto and Mann: Dewey Barto and George Mann, known as the "laugh kings" of vaudeville, were a comedic dance act from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Their acrobatic, somewhat risqué, performance played on their disparities in height; Barto was 4'11" and Mann was 6'6".
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.
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.
Mr. T Cereal was a sweetened breakfast cereal manufactured by the Quaker Oats Company from 1984 to 1993. The cereal was prepared with corn and oats as primary ingredients, and it was fortified with iron and B vitamins. The cereal box had a cartoon likeness of Mr. T on the box as the cereal's mascot. The cereal pieces were manufactured in the shape of the letter "T". It has been described as being similar in flavor to Cap'n Crunch cereal, which is also produced by Quaker.
Fingos is a discontinued breakfast cereal snack from General Mills that lasted from 1993 to 1994. The cereal was advertised as a snack which confused consumers. The box was voiced in television commercials by comedian Steve Mackall.