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Cocoa Puffs

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Cocoa Puffs
A Cocoa Puffs box, 2001.
TypeBreakfast cereal
Place of originUnited States
Created byGeneral Mills
Main ingredientsWhole grain corn, sugar, corn syrup, cornmeal, canola and or rice bran oil, cocoa solids processed with alkali
Variationsmultiple
Other informationLucky Charms, Trix (cereal), Kix (cereal), Count Chocula

Cocoa Puffs is a brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills.[1] Introduced in 1958, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn, oats and rice flavored with cocoa. Essentially, Cocoa Puffs are Kix cereal with chocolate flavoring (similarly, Trix was, for most of its existence, Kix plus fruit flavoring and coloring). Kix cereal is produced in the same factories as Cocoa Puffs, but differs in density and circumference.

Cocoa Puffs are sold in Canada, Latin America, Mexico and Europe under the Nesquik brand, thanks to a partnership between Nestlé and General Mills; Nestlé and Hershey are competitors in the chocolate business.

Ingredients

On several occasions, Cocoa Puffs boxes stated that they are made with real Hershey's chocolate.[2]

In December 2009, General Mills announced that it would cut the sugar in 10 cereals including Cocoa Puffs to less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. This could represent a 25% decline in the sugar content from the original level and 18% from the 2009 level of 11 grams per serving.[3]

Flavors and variants

A cereal bar of Cocoa Puffs has been made. A layer of dried, sweetened condensed milk is added to the bottom, and marketed as a substitute for a bowl of milk and cereal.

The newest addition was introduced in the summer of 2008, Cocoa Puffs Combos, which consists of the recognizable chocolate puffs with vanilla puffs. Unlike original Cocoa Puffs, the Combos cereal does not contain cocoa. Instead, it contains artificial, imitation cocoa.

Advertising

The mascot of Cocoa Puffs is Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, introduced in 1962, whose catchphrase is "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!".[4] In the commercials, Sonny attempts to concentrate on a normal task and ends up coming across some reference to Cocoa Puffs themselves (usually described by the adjectives "munchy, crunchy, chocolatey") and bursts with enthusiasm, exclaiming, "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!"

Sonny's name comes from the original format for the commercials, in which he was paired with his grandfather. Rather than proper names, they always referred to each other as "Gramps" and "Sonny." When the grandfather was dropped from the ads, "Sonny" remained as the character's name. In those original spots, both Sonny and Gramps were voiced by Chuck McCann. In 2010, Gramps returned to the Cocoa Puffs ads, again voiced by McCann.

Sonny was designed by Gene Cleaves; animation pioneer "Grim" Natwick, of Fleischers' Betty Boop history, also contributed to the early images of Sonny and Gramps, according to then-contemporaries who collaborated with Natwick during his 100-year career.[5] Sonny was originally depicted as wearing a pink-and-white striped shirt, then in 1995 was redesigned, this time wearing a varsity jacket and being given a more Disney-esque appearance. In 2004, he was redesigned in a more simplistic fashion, this time without clothing.

References

  1. ^ Cocoa Puffs information
  2. ^ "Business week". Business Week (2105–2113). McGraw-Hill: 32. 1970.
  3. ^ "General Mills Will Reduce Sugar in Kids' Also it has a version called "Cocoa Puffs Combos" Cereal". Archived from the original on Dec 14, 2009. Retrieved Dec 14, 2009.
  4. ^ Berman, Margo (19 July 2012). The Copywriter's Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Strategic Advertising Copy. John Wiley & Sons. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4443-6081-3.
  5. ^ [1]
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