Count Chocula | |
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Chocolate-flavored corn cereal bits and marshmallows | |
Mascot | Cartoon variant of Count Dracula |
Introduced | 1971 |
Availability | Still in production seasonally |
Tagline | I want to eat your cereal! (1971–2010) |
Notes | [1] |
General Mills – Count Chocula – Chocolatey Cereal with Monster Marshmallows, with milk |
Franken Berry | |
---|---|
Strawberry-flavored corn cereal bits and marshmallows | |
Mascot | Cartoon variant of Frankenstein's monster |
Introduced | 1971 |
Availability | Still in production seasonally |
Notes | [2] |
Boo Berry | |
---|---|
Blueberry-flavored frosted corn cereal bits and marshmallows | |
Mascot | Blue cartoon ghost |
Introduced | 1973 |
Availability | Still in production seasonally |
Frute Brute | |
---|---|
Frosted fruit-flavored cereal with lime-flavored marshmallows; Relaunch: Sweetened cherry-flavored cereal with marshmallows | |
Mascot | Cartoon werewolf |
Introduced | 1974 |
Availability | Discontinued (1982); Relaunch (2013); Discontinued (2014) Relaunch (2022) (In a box of four Monster Cereals) |
Tagline | The Howling Good Taste of Fruit |
Notes | [3] |
Frute Brute cereal |
Yummy Mummy | |
---|---|
Frosted fruit-flavored cereal with vanilla-flavored marshmallows Relaunch: Frosted orange-cream flavored cereal with marshmallows | |
Mascot | Cartoon mummy |
Introduced | 1987 |
Availability | Discontinued (1992); Relaunch (2013); Discontinued (2014) |
Tagline | Yummy Mummy makes your tummy go yummy! Heh, heh, heh! (1988–1990) |
Carmella Creeper | |
---|---|
Caramel apple-flavored corn cereal bits and marshmallows | |
Mascot | Cartoon zombie DJ |
Introduced | 2023 |
The monster cereals are a line of breakfast cereals produced by General Mills Corporation in North America. The line was introduced in 1971 and, at various times, has included six brands, each featuring a cartoon version of a classic movie monster: Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry (all produced seasonally from September 1 to October 31), as well as Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy [4] (both are discontinued, except for limited productions) with a sixth character Carmella Creeper introduced in 2023.
In March 1971, the first two cereals in the line were introduced, the chocolate-flavored Count Chocula and the strawberry-flavored Franken Berry. In the commercials, the two monsters, Count Alfred [5] Chocula and Franken Berry, would engage in comic bickering over which cereal was better, when something or someone else (usually Boo Berry) interfered in their verbal sparring and scared them out of their wits.
In February 1972, Franken Berry cereal included an indigestible pigment that turned some children's feces pink, a symptom sometimes referred to as "Franken Berry stool". [6] [7] [8] The Count Chocula and Franken Berry recipes were reformulated to remove this pigment. [9]
Boo Berry, the first blueberry-flavored cereal, [10] was released in December 1972 (released nationally in February 1973), and Frute Brute in 1974. Frute Brute was discontinued by 1982, after an eight-year run. It was replaced in 1988 by Fruity Yummy Mummy, which was discontinued in 1992 after just five years. [11] During this period, Frute Brute made conspicuous appearances in two films by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs , as a visual easter egg. [12]
In 2005, Count Chocula was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX, where many famous advertising mascots are seen having dinner together. [13] In 2010, Betty Crocker released Franken Berry, Frute Brute, and Boo Berry Fruit Roll-Ups. [14] General Mills released Count Chocula cereal bars.[ citation needed ]
Since 2010, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula cereals have been manufactured and sold only for a few months during the autumn/Halloween season in September and October.[ citation needed ] As of late 2010, information such as nutrition data and historical facts can still be found on the official General Mills website at all times of the year. [10]
In August 2013, General Mills released all five monster cereals for purchase during the Halloween season. Both Fruit Brute, which was being released for the first time in 31 years, and Fruity Yummy Mummy, which was being released for the first time in 21 years, received updated packaging like the other cereals, and the Fruit Brute variant was renamed Frute Brute. Additionally, it was revealed on I-Mockery that special retro edition boxes of all five cereals with their original packaging art would be sold exclusively at Target stores. [15]
In 2014, General Mills enlisted the help of DC Comics to create new designs for the cereals in time for that Halloween. The designs, revealed on August 6, consisted of a Boo Berry design by Jim Lee, a Count Chocula design by Terry Dodson and a Franken Berry design by Dave Johnson. [16]
In 2021, it was announced that the company would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Monster Cereals by releasing an amalgamated cereal entitled Monster Mash. [17]
In August 2022, due to the resounding success of the 50th anniversary celebrations just one year prior, Frute Brute returned, and the covers of all four cereals that year featured artwork by street artist KAWS inspired by the vintage designs. [18]
In June 2023, a new monster named Carmella Creeper was revealed, being a zombie DJ cousin of Franken Berry and the first female monster in the mix. Her green cereal is caramel apple flavored. General Mills also announced that a remake of the Monster Mash amalgamated cereal called Monster Mash Remix would be released as well featuring all six cereals.
In March 2024, street artist Kaws launched a collection of four figurines representing these monsters, Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Frute Brute and Franken Berry following the collaboration with General Mills in August 2022. These figurines are bigger than those found in cereal boxes, but retain the artwork design.
Until the early 1980s, the monster cereals were also known for their wide variety of both in-pack and mail-away cereal premiums. Many items, such as posters, stickers, paint sets, speedster cars, parachutes, and even vinyl advertising figures, were produced. [19] In 1979, three flexi-discs were made available via cereal boxes: "The Monsters Go Disco", "Count Chocula Goes to Hollywood" and "Monster Adventures in Outer Space". [20]
Breakfast cereal is a breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or 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 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. Today, the company markets many well-known North American brands, including Gold Medal flour, Annie's Homegrown, Lärabar, Cascadian Farm, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Totino's, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, as well as breakfast cereals under the General Mills name, including Cheerios, Wheaties, Chex, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocula and the other monster cereals.
Froot Loops is a sweetened, fruit-flavored breakfast cereal made by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and Kellanova for the rest of the world. The brand was solely owned by the original Kellogg Company before it spun off its North American cereal division as WK Kellogg Co in late 2023. The fruit-flavored cereal pieces are ring-shaped, with a variety of bright colors.
Toucan Sam is the cartoon toucan mascot for Froot Loops breakfast cereal. The character has been featured in advertising since 1963. He exhibits the ability to smell Froot Loops from great distances and invariably locates a concealed bowl of the cereal while intoning, "Follow your nose! It always knows!", sometimes followed by "The flavor of fruit! Wherever it grows!" Another version of this phrase in a string of commercials in the late-2000s presents the character at the end of the commercials saying "Just follow your nose!", followed by his nephews retorting, "For the fruity taste that shows!"
Apple Jacks is an American brand of breakfast cereal that is produced by both successors to the original Kellogg's—WK Kellogg Co in the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and Kellanova in the rest of the world. It was introduced to the U.S. as "Apple O's" in 1965 after being invented by college intern William Thilly. In 1971 the name "Apple Jacks" was put into action by advertisers. The product is described by Kellogg's as a "crunchy, sweetened multi-grain cereal with apple and cinnamon." Apple Jacks is one of the top four cereal brands marketed within stores and is most heavily marketed on Kellogg's internet platform.
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.
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.
Post Consumer Brands is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.
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.
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.
Pebbles is a brand of breakfast cereal introduced in the United States by Post Consumer Brands on October 20, 1971 featuring characters from the animated series The Flintstones as spokestoons. The product line includes Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles.
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.
Baron Von Redberry was a cereal created by General Mills around 1972 that featured a World War I era German pilot, presumably modeled on “Red Baron” Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. The cereal itself consisted of berry-flavored oat cereal with sweet berry marshmallows and tasted strongly of fruit punch.
Sir Grapefellow was a short-lived cereal created by General Mills around 1972 that featured a British World War I era pilot of the same name. The cereal consisted of "grape flavored oat cereal with sweet grape starbits (marshmallows)".
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 extensive and persistent impact on media and popular culture of Creature from the Black Lagoon began even before it was seen in theaters. To publicize the release of the film in 1954, Ben Chapman, in costume, introduced the Gill-Man to the public on live television in The Colgate Comedy Hour with Abbott and Costello.