Kellogg’s Corn Pops: 1951 – 2012..?

An interesting article was posted this past summer at 24/7 Wall St. about brands that are projected to disappear in 2012. Sears, Sony Pictures, Nokia and MySpace are on the list but on a more serious note Kellogg’s Corn Pops made the list as well.

Debuting in 1951 as “Sugar Pops”, the cereal was re-titled “Sugar Corn Pops” in the late 1970s before finally settling on “Corn Pops” in the 1980s. I remember a few years back they changed the name yet again, this time simply to “Pops” (which I always found strange). Luckily, the cereal was restored to “Corn Pops” after only a few months.

Surprisingly, in the United States alone the cereal had a number of mascots over the years: Woody Woodpecker, Newt the Gnu, Sugar Pops Pete (a prairie dog cowboy), Whippersnapper (a cowboy), Big Yella (another cowboy) Poppy (a female porcupine) and most recently Sweet Toothasaur. Poppy was a mascot during the ’80s yet I have no recollection of her or anything of these other mascots. I can only remember tag-lines such as “Gotta have my Pops!” and “It’s hard to stop when it’s my Pops!” and the use of the JAWS theme in the commercials.

So what’s the reason Corn Pops is in mortal danger? Well, sales are down because people are looking towards healthier cereals and when you’re using BHT (something found in embalming fluid) as an ingredient you can’t really claim to be all that good for anyone to eat. Never mind the fact that everyone knows Corn Pops are covered in sticky, sweet sugary glaze. Falling sales are only half of it though. The price of corn is on the rise and that makes it harder for this brand to turn a profit.

Truthfully, there was nothing in the article that said Corn Pops was definitely going extinct. All the article was saying was that the brand was having a hard time and they were suggesting it’d be a wrap in 2012. Although I don’t eat Corn Pops as much as I did when I was a kid, I still get cravings for it and pick up a box every few months. It’d be a shame to think I could no longer do so come 2012.

So here’s to ya, Corn Pops. I tip my cereal bowl to you and I hope you can somehow find a way to soldier on in a world of raising costs and where people are choosier about what they consume.

Cereals From Beyond: Halloween Limited Edition!

Cereal and Halloween. Isn’t that combination the whole world can rally behind? Let’s all agree that they are two great things that go great together and build from that.

Welcome to a very special Halloween Limited Edition of Cereals From Beyond! Some of these cereals are dragged out from their coffins every year about this time to cash-in on Hallowween, so while they technically may not be dead, they are dead in spirit and that’s good enough to make another Cereals From Beyond entry!

Cap’n Crunch’s Halloween Crunch (Quaker Oats, 2007)

Halloween Crunch has been around for the last couple of years but the box pictured above is the 2010 edition. The cereal ghosts turn the milk GREEN! How they do that?!? I’ve never had Halloween Crunch before but I think I need to see this for myself…

Casper Sugar Chex (Ralston, 1970)

I couldn’t find much info on this cereal but it’s easy to assume this was sweetened Corn Chex. It appears Casper was the cereal’s mascot and so this was not just a seasonal promotion. There’s also a red box but I don’t think there’s an actual difference in the cereal and Casper surrounded by orange looks much more cooler and Halloweeny!

Candy Corn Corn Pops (Kellogg’s, 2001)

Okay, this looks and sounds absolutely disgusting! Looks, I get that candy corn is a great fall and holiday tradition. It’s just a nice color scheme and all, but I hate the stuff! I hate candy corn, I hate mellowcreme harvest and pumpkin mixes… It smells gross and it tastes gross. I can’t imagine Corn Pops (which has never been a favorite of mine) that have a candy corn flavor are all that “special”, despite what the text on the box says.

Even the cereal box itself is absolutely ugly. What’s up with all the fluorescent colors and poorly drawn psychotic scientist? I admit the idea of “Candy Corn Corn Pops” is a very good piece of marketing and was/is probably enough to get people to buy this cereal but design a better box, guys!

Frankberry & Count Chocula Universal Monster Editions (General Mills, early 2000s?)

For the life of me I cannot remember what year these came out. I’m guessing early 2000s but late ’90s is possible as well. This was another example of great marketing — the Monster Cereals teaming up with the Universal Monsters! Great artwork. Hm. That reminds me. I need to pick up some Monster Cereals and watch some of the Universal classics soon!

Halloween Rice Krispies (Kellogg’s, 1980s?)

I saved my favorite cereal box out of this batch for last! Again, I can’t find much info in regards to the year of these things. This looks like it was from maybe the early or mid ’80s and I have a vague recollection of eating them. Or maybe I’m remembering eating Rice Krispies with orange food coloring… Nevertheless this is an awesome piece of cereal box art and you can’t go wrong with orange Rice Krispies!

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It’s been awhile, let’s get going…

The Addams Family (Ralston, 1991)

Another licensed cereal from Ralston, this one was tieing into the first Addams Family movie. The cereal actually looks pretty cool with all those skulls. The cereal had a pretty cool giveaway – flashlights in the shape of Fester, Cousin It, Thing and Lurch. Not sure how this one tastes, I don’t remember ever having any but I do remember seeing it at dollar stores. That’s where all Ralston cereals go. In fact, I bet I could go to the local dollar shop today and find a box.

Cabbage Patch Kids (Ralston, 1985)

The selling point for this cereal was that it was low in sugar. Even though I would have been turning four years old that year, I seem to have memories of eating this. Not exactly sure of the taste, but it seems like it may be like Kix. There was a number of different boxes for this cereal featuring photographed Cabbage Patch Kids in action. I remember the commercial too.

Dino Pebbles (Post, late 1980s)

On the other end of the spectrum from low sugar Cabbage Patch Kids cereal, supposedly, this particular cereal had move marshmallows per box than any other cereal. Sounds like a winner to me! I know I had it at one point or another but I’ve never been a big fan of the Pebbles cereals, so I didn’t eat it much.

Cereals From Beyond 4

It’s Saturday morning. Turn the TV on, find a cartoon and grab a spoon, we’re digging in again!

Bigg Mixx (Kellogg’s, 1990)

A cereal that featured a weird mascot who was named “Bigg Mixx”, he was a combination of a number of animals. I never touched the stuff (neither the cereal nor the creature), but I definitely remember the box art and this crazy moose-pig-chicken-wolf thing.

The cereal itself was nothing more than scraps from the rest of Kellogg’s cereals they were producing at the time (honest!), though you could buy Bigg Mixx with or without raisins. Gee, no wonder it didn’t sell. What if Pepsi had left over soda and bottled the various flavors into one 2 liter and tried to sell it? No one wants a pick ‘n’ mix box of cereal. Save that for the Brach’s candy displays at the grocery store.

Cereals From Beyond

So in continuing my venture into the realm of pop culture, I’ve decided to talk about cereal. Why cereal? Why not? IT’S DELICIOUS! Some people like to eat it the old boring way… with milk. Not me! Although I occasionally get the urge to splurge with milk, any good cereal should be able to stand on its own as a dry snack. Kix, Cheerios, Crispix… These are the kings of cereal & serial snacking!

But I’m not here to talk about those classic breakfast cereals. No, today I will be showing you The Forgotten Ones. Those flash-in-the-pans, those licensed character driven cereals whose time was cut short due to the fact that they were based on a fad, those sweet crunchy gimmick cereals… Yes, these types can all be found to this very day, but being a child of the 1980s, I have a special spot in my heart for all those that came and went rather quickly nearly 20 years ago. This is their story.