Cheerios

For the small savory cocktail sausages in Australia and New Zealand, see Saveloy. For the "Glee" characters, see Characters of Glee § Sue Sylvester.

File:Wiki cheerios.jpg

A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal.

Cheerios is a brand of breakfast cereal by General Mills introduced on May 1, 1941 originally named CheeriOats. The name was changed to Cheerios in 1945 because of a trade name dispute with Quaker Oats. The name fit the "O" shape of the cereal pieces. In some other countries, including the United Kingdom, it is a distinct recipe (with much higher sugar levels) sold by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand. This was also the case until mid-2009 in Australia and New Zealand, but Cheerios are now branded as an Uncle Tobys product. In 2008, Cheerios released a line of Snack Mix, in Original and Cheese flavors. All Cheerios shipped to the eastern coast of the United States and eastern Canada are manufactured at the General Mills plant in Buffalo, New York. In 2009, a dispute developed regarding the FDA considering Cheerios an "unapproved new drug" because of its marketing and health claims.

Advertising

Many of the television commercials for Cheerios have targeted children and have included animated characters (such as an animated Honeybee). Bullwinkle was featured in some early 1960's commercials; being his usual likably klutzy self; the tag line at the end of the ad being "Go with Cheerios!" followed by Bullwinkle, usually a bit the worse for wear due to his Cheerios-inspired bravery somewhat backfiring, saying "...but watch where you're going!" Also, Hoppity Hooper was featured in ads briefly during the mid-1960s, as General Mills was the primary sponsor of his animated program.

The Cheerios Kid

Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing through the early 1960s, "The Cheerios Kid" was a mainstay in their commercials, ranking alongside most of the characters created for rival Post's cereals. At first, the Kid was a clumsy, absent-minded tinkerer much to the annoyance of his girlfriend, Sue, but was able to find his footing after eating Cheerios.

In later years, In numerous commercials, the Kid and Sue (more often just Sue) would get into trouble (at which point Sue would nonchalantly shout "Help, Kid...") and the Cheerios Kid, after eating his cereal to "power up", would quickly deal with the problem, often in a rather creative way. The Kid's oat-produced "Go-power" was always represented by bulging biceps with an outline of a Cheerios "o" temporarily tattooed on them; in later commercials, Sue would also eat the cereal with similar effect, looking somewhat like a miniature female bodybuilder as she joined the Kid in action. The Kid and Sue underwent numerous re-designs over the years, with their height and apparent age particularly subject to change; though their voices seemed to remain quite constant.

The Cheerios Kid was revived briefly in the late 1980s with similar commercials.

In 2012, The Cheerios Kid and Sue were revived in an online internet video that showed how Cheerios Lowered Cholesterol.

"Just Cheeri-yodel"

In the late 1970s, Cheerios released a series of commercials that featured an animated "stick-man" chasing a yodeling cereal box with the word "Cheerios" written on the side. The box kept zooming by the stick-man singing "Cheerio-ee-oh-ee-ohs" and "Yummy Oaty-oh-ee-oh-ee-ohs". The man would try unsuccessfully to catch the elusive box before attempting the Cheeri-yodel himself, at which point the box would land by his side.

The Peanuts Gang

A bowl of Multi-grain Cheerios.

During the 1980s, a popular series of Cheerios commercials surfaced featuring the Peanuts gang and a new slogan, "You're on your toes with Cheerios". Some of them included:

• Charlie Brown in a baseball game having trouble pitching until Lucy gives him breakfast with Cheerios, at which point Charlie Brown was actually pitching strikes saying "All I ever needed was a manager".
• Schroeder, wearily playing "Chopsticks" on his piano, is treated to a similar breakfast by Lucy. Afterwards he's back to his old musical self with Lucy remarking "Supporting the arts is so gratifying."
• Charlie Brown teaches a run-down Franklin how to surf at the beach. After Franklin is treated to a Cheerios breakfast, he quickly learns to surf like a pro and zooms by Charlie Brown, splashing him. Charlie Brown wipes the spray off his face and mutters, "Beginner's luck".
• Peppermint Patty is running out of steam pedaling a tandem bike with Marcie until receiving a bowl of Cheerios. Afterwards, Patty is chugging away on the pedals saying "We make a great team, huh, Marcie?" Marcie, lounging away in her seat replies, "Indeed we do, Sir."

Spoonfuls of Stories

Main article: Spoonfuls of Stories

The Spoonfuls of Stories program, first began in 2002, is a program sponsored by Cheerios and is thus a 50/50 joint venture of General Mills and Simon & Schuster. Five books were published within the program when the book drive occurs.

Shawn Johnson

In 2009, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion gymnast Shawn Johnson became the first athlete featured on the cover of the Cheerios box. The limited edition cereal box was distributed primarily throughout the Midwestern region of the United States exclusively by the Hy-Vee grocery store chain.

UK 2009

File:Cheerios Cerial Partners.jpg

Cheerios packaging sold in the U.K.

In the UK, a new slogan, "Give those O's a go", is now used, with ads featuring Stop-Motion/CGI characters.

Just Checking

On May 28, 2013 Cheerios posted a video on YouTube. The commercial showcased a little girl, who was mixed, a Caucasian mother, and a African-American father. The video started a social outtake on Biracial families in media. Many people stated that the commercial was "racist" and that it was "not the modern family". Due to all the negative comments on the video Cheerios disabled comments. Since the video have been watched by over 3 million people with 21,000 likes and 2,000 dislikes.

Varieties and flavors

From the late 1970s until the present, General Mills has introduced a succession of cereals that are versions of the original Cheerios. In Europe, unlike America (where it is made solely of oats), the product contains a mixture of four types of Cheerios, each composed of a different grain: corns, oat, rice and wheat. This mixture also has a much higher content of sugar.

Cinnamon Nut Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios

Main article: Honey Nut Cheerios

Cinnamon Nut Cheerios was the first departure from regular Cheerios in mid-1976. Second was Honey Nut Cheerios which was introduced in 1979 geared towards adults as well as children. It is sweeter than the original, with a honey and almond flavor. Cinnamon Nut Cheerios was only out briefly in 1976 and 1977 and was not successful; however, a similar product, "Cinnamon Burst Cheerios," was released in 2011.

Currently on Market

• Cheerios (1941)
• Honey Nut Cheerios (1979) (see above)
• Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (1988)
• MultiGrain Cheerios (Original in the UK) (released 1992, relaunched 2009)
• Frosted Cheerios (1995)
• Yogurt Burst Cheerios (2005)
• Fruity Cheerios (2006) (Cheerios sweetened with fruit juice)
• Oat Cluster Crunch Cheerios (2007) (sweetened Cheerios with oat clusters)
• Banana Nut Cheerios (2009) (sweetened Cheerios made with banana puree)
• Chocolate Cheerios (2010) (Cheerios made with cocoa)
• Cinnamon Burst Cheerios (2011) (Cheerios made with cinnamon)
• Dulce de Leche Cheerios (2012) (sweetened Cheerios made with caramel)
• MultiGrain Peanut Butter Cheerios (2012) (Multigrain Cheerios with sorghum, not wheat, and peanut butter)

Snack based Products

• Cheerios Snack Mix – Original (2008) (Cheerios, Corn Chex, Wheat Chex, round crackers, pretzels and cracker sticks flavored with garlic and onion)
• Cheerios Snack Mix – Cheese (2008) (Cheerios, Corn Chex, Wheat Chex, triangle crackers, pretzels and cracker sticks flavored with cheese)

Non General Mills derivatives

• Crispy Oats (manufactured by Millville, distributed by ALDI)
• Purely O's (Organic Cheerios, manufactured by General Mills subsidiary Cascadian Farms) (1999)
• Oat Cheerios (UK only, manufactured by Cereal Partners Worldwide, sold under Nestlé brand)

Discontinued

• Cheerios and X's (no longer available) (1993)
• Team Cheerios (formerly Team USA Cheerios, no longer available) (1996)
• Millenios (Cheerios with "2"-shaped cereal pieces, no longer available) (1999–2000)
• Berry Burst Cheerios (including variations of Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, Cherry Vanilla and Triple Berry, no longer available) (2003)

Controversy

Labeling

In May 2009, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a letter to General Mills indicating that in their view Cheerios was being sold as an unapproved new drug. This was in response to the labeling of the Cheerios box, which read in part:

• "You can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks" " • "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1½ cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol."

The FDA letter indicated that General Mills needed to either change the way it marketed Cheerios or apply for federal approval to sell Cheerios as a drug. General Mills responded with a statement that their claim of soluble fiber content had been approved by the FDA, and that the claims about lowering cholesterol had been featured on the box for two years.

In popular culture

• The American psychedelic pop band The Neon Philharmonic referenced Cheerios cereal in their 1969 hit song "Morning Girl."

See also

• Cheerios effect
• Cruncheroos

External links

• Cheerios Official Site
• Cheerios Ratings for Health, Environmental and Social Impact on GoodGuide
• Cheerios and X's 1993