Good old cereal. When you walk down the cereal aisle as an adult, it is nowhere near as exciting
as it was when you were a child. Is that because you have changed or because the cereals have?
Maybe both? Here is the first part of a two part list - 10 childhood cereals that you
completely forgot about - part 1.
Banana Frosted Flakes
From 1981 to 1984 there were Banana Frosted Flakes. Can you even imagine? Is this something
that you had eaten or something you are hearing about now for the first time? This idea may
sound a little funny but if you think about it hard enough you may realize that you have
actually cut slices of real bananas into your cereal before or seen someone else do it.
Banana is a morning food. So is cereal. It only makes sense that they go together! The
box for this cereal was also warm and sunny and very inspirational. The box gave off good
morning vibes to say the least. It portrayed the trusty and familiar Tony the Tiger holding
a big bunch of bananas and wearing a straw hat. Did you know that if you have just one
banana it is called a finger? Many is a bunch and one is a finger. Bet you didn’t know
that! So now you know there were Banana Frosted Flakes and that one banana is called a finger!
If this version of the cereal was brought back, would you give it a go?
Count Chocula
When we think of friendly cartoon vampires today we think about Adam Sandler voicing
the vampire/hotel owner/father in the Hotel Transylvania movies. Back in the day when
this film franchise had not yet been created, when children thought about vampires they
thought about two things: Count von Count from Sesame Street and Count Chocula. Count
Chocula cereal was first released in March of 1971. Sesame Street first aired in 1969.
They both began around the same time and each offered children a vampire that was unlike
any frightening Halloween version of a vampire. These vampires were kind and sweet. In fact,
Count Chocula was literally sweet, as his cereal was chocolatey and even had marshmallow
bits! Count Chocula cereal was actually part of a whole line of cereals called Monster
Cereals. This line was created by General Mills and also featured Franken Berry, a friendly
Frankenstein monster. As well as Boo Berry, featuring you guessed it, a friendly Ghost
monster. These monster mascots have a decidedly Tim Burton-esque design to them, being more
charming, than scary. Clearly this charm worked as all three of these Monster cereals are
still produced today, albeit on a seasonal basis, so go-ahead and re-live sugar-y, monster-y
goodness!
Dino Pebbles
The Flintstones were incredible. They were one of the first animated families to be brought
into homes across America via the television. They were also the first animated series to
hold a prime time slot. The show first aired in 1960 and only ran for six years. In those
six years, one hundred and sixty six episodes of magic happened, and now many people still
remember the Flintstones, the Rubbles, and the Great Gazoo. To celebrate this famous
television program, there were cereals. There were actually many versions and varieties
to choose from over the years, such as: Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm Pebbles
to name a few. Dino Pebbles were launched in the 80s. So the Flintstones were already
retro then. What does that make them now? Ancient? Or maybe prehistoric? Dino Pebbles
ran for about ten years and then slowly drifted from the market as the cartoon did from programming.
When we look back at this cereal, we are also looking back at a TV show, its characters,
and the impact it had on our lives. Did any of you run home from school to watch the Flintstones?
Would you watch it over lunch? Saturday morning? Dino Pebbles bring back an array of emotions
and memories. This cereal is also fun because it features Dino, the family “dog” from
the cartoon sitcom. He was happy, loving, and big and purple, kind of like Barney. Maybe
Dino was the inspiration for Barney.
Strawberry Shortcake
This next one is on the list of Childhood Cereals You Completely Forgot About because
of the smell. Remember the artificial strawberry smell of the Strawberry Shortcake cereal?
If you can’t, you can probably imagine it. This cereal was a General Mills product and
was first brought into the market in 1982. It featured the cutest little Strawberry Shortcake
mascot. Did you know Strawberry Shortcake the cartoon character was first designed for
greeting cards? The beloved character then made it into cereal. Everything that was popular
in those times had a brief period on a cereal box. Cereal boxes were the best way to communicate
with kids back then. They were the best way to give them both an edible product and a
toy. It was a win-win. The child got something yummy and fun out of it and the company gets
the reoccurring revenue because the kid wants to buy more of the product so they can collect
all the toys. Those were the easy days. The good-old days. They were for cereal and for
the promotion of characters, that’s for sure! Today we have so many popular characters
that do not make it onto a cereal box. How sad that is.
C3PO’s
“Two crunches in every double O” said the commercial, as the classic Star Wars theme
played in the background. Two crunches! Why is that? Well, this cereal put two traditional
O’s together to create two Os, which looked a lot like a figure eight. C3PO’s were a
Kellogg’s brand that obviously celebrated and advertised the C-3PO droid from Star Wars.
The cereal was released in 1984 after the premier of the third Star Wars film from the
original trilogy. These were super fun boxes to get if you were a cereal eater and a Star
Wars fan because you not only had the very satisfying “two crunches in every double
O”, but you also had the chance of finding some collectables! Some boxes had plastic
rebel rockets in them. Others had stickers or trading cards. Some of the boxes even had
masks on the back that you could cut out and wear. This was back in the day when children
were not afraid to do some crafts and actually paid attention to their boxes of cereal. This
may be an overgeneralization but the facts are the facts: cereal boxes are not as cool
for children as they once were. C3PO’s had it all! They had the yummy and familiar cereal
taste that is enhanced and made even better than it had been before. They had the recognizable
characters. They had fun surprises in the boxes AND they had cool boxes. We miss you
C3PO’s and we only wish you or products like you were being released now as Star Wars
is being revamped. Hear that Kellogg’s? Bring this back please!
Oreo O’s
This cereal was basically just like Cheerios but with Oreo flavored O’s. Oreo O’s were
made by Post Cereals from Post Consumer Brands. It launched in 1997 and had a very successful
10 year run before before being discontinued in 2007. Spoiler alert, these were eventually
brought back and are currently widely available and yet again successful. So the question
remains, why were they ever discontinued in the first place? Why would a very good product
and trusty brand name like Oreo stop making something that must have been profitable?
Well, the answer is a political one. Back in the day, Post Cereals and Kraft foods had
a deal. This deal allowed them to co-brand. In 2007 this co-branding stopped. This means
that Post Cereals owned the rights to producing the cereal itself, while Kraft owned the copyrights
to the name Oreo. Therefore, neither one of the companies could function and legally make
and sell this product without the other’s help and consent. Even in the cereal game
there are politics and rights and wrongs. It is not all happy morning music and rainbows.
That is just for our kid fantasies and, well, the commercials.
Bart Simpson Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch
If you watched The Simpsons as a kid, you ran to get to the television in time to see
the couch bit. It was always different… or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe you would run
to get to the TV and be disappointed because you’ve seen it before. Maybe you had to
hang up the phone with your friend, cutting them off. If you watched The Simpsons you
are also aware of Bart’s prank calls to Moe’s Tavern. You love Bart for his fun
attitude and reckless behavior. You would have been one of the ones to eat the Bart
Simpson cereal. It was a special edition cereal ran by Kellogg’s, so there was never any
intention of it staying on the market. The last time they ran a special edition Simpson’s
cereal was in 2003, when they sold Bart Simpson’s No ProbemO’s and Eat My Shorts cereals in
the UK. The Bart Simpson Peanut Butter Crunch was only on the market for a year, between
2001 and 2002. It is missed and all eyes are on the shelves awaiting the next limited edition.
Cinnamon Mini Buns
One big, hot, steamy cinnamon bun with icing on the top is truly delicious. How about three
or four mini cinnamon buns on a spoon bathing in milk? They are crispy and crunchy and cinnamon-y
too! Kellogg’s Cinnamon Mini Buns brought the ever delightful classic, the cinnamon
bun, into cereal bowls and we will never forget it. The bonus with having the cereal version
as opposed to the actual bun version is the calories. When marketing this cereal, Kellogg’s
promised that “Eating 70 Cinnamon Buns Can Be Nutritious!” Taking today’s standards
into consideration, we know this is unlikely the truth. There is not a chance that the
cereal resembled any of the nutritious competition now on the market. But, back then, the sugar
content was probably less than most of the brands out there. Cinnamon Mini Buns were
first sold in 1991 and left very soon after in 1993.
French Toast Crunch
For those who were not eating Cinnamon Mini Buns but loved the taste of cinnamon, there
was French Toast Crunch. It was like having tons and tons of cinnamon French toast in
a bowl of cereal. Remember the picture on the box of the French Toast slices being your
cereal pieces! It was like you were eating loaves and loaves and loaves. This cereal
does not need to be elaborated on because we all remember it like it was yesterday.
It was just that good. So if you completely forgot about this cereal, now is the time
for action. While it was discontinued in the US in 2006 it was brought back by popular
demand in 2014. Get on out and grab yourself a box of French Toast Crunch and fill that
bowl right to the top. Those tasty crunchy bites of cinnamon and syrupy goodness will
take you back in time - sitting on the floor with your big bowl of cereal watching Saturday
morning cartoons.
Pop Tarts Crunch
Okay. There is bad news and good news. The bad news is that this cereal was discontinued
in 1995. But, you already knew that. You have already mourned that loss. You have already
gone through all the stages of grief and come out the other side. Now, it is time for the
good news. In 2018, the rumour mill started churning up about the possibility of Pop Tarts
Crunch making a comeback, and people got very excited. These remained as rumours for some
time until in January of 2019, when it happened. Kellogg's re-released Pop Tarts Crunch, under
the name Pop Tarts Cereal and unleashed it's deliciousness unto the world. Pop Tarts Cereal
comes in the same two flavors as the original Pop Tarts Crunch, which are Strawberry, and
Brown Sugar Cinnamon. There is also a Cookies & Cream flavour floating around that seems
to be a bit harder to find. They were originally a Walmart exclusive, but now they can be found
elsewhere and the growing success is good news for those hoping they will add more flavors
down the road, we're patiently waiting for the S'mores Pop Tarts Cereal, please...
Stick around and check out one of these 4 other videos. And if it’s your first time
here, show us some love and hit that subscribe button and ring that bell to join our notification
squad.