Cheerios

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A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal brand.
A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal brand.

Cheerios is a brand of breakfast cereal created in 1941 and marketed by the General Mills cereal company of Golden Valley, Minnesota, as the first oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal. In some other countries (including the UK), it is sold by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand. In the UK and Ireland, Multi-Cheerios are also sold, consisting of "four grains" (actually five, but four colours of 'O's): maize, oats, barley, wheat and rice. The cereal briefly had a mascot, an animated talking cheerio with eyes, arms and legs.

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[edit] History

The introduction of Cheerios on May 1, 1941, by the name of "CheeriOats" was marked by an aggressive production and marketing strategy that attempted to associate Cheerios with the American cold cereal breakfast. Its first mascot, Cheeri O'Leary, was introduced in 1942, though the mascot was short-lived and she was rarely seen after 1945. Successful marketing and association with The Lone Ranger led General Mills to sell approximately 1.8 million cases of the cereal in its first year alone, and in 1945, the name of the cereal was changed to Cheerios (to avoid confusion with a similarly named competitor brand), and its slogan was developed as "Cheerios: The First Ready-To-Eat Oat Cereal".

During the 1950s, continued association with television and radio allowed Cheerios to rank among the top breakfast cereals, and as General Mills' number one selling cereal product. It also underwent package changes, and for the first time in 1953 Cheerios was shown with a bowl of the oat cereal topped with strawberries, along with a singular Cheerio being used to dot the "i" on the Cheerios cereal box. New mascots named "The Cheerios Kid and Sue" were introduced in 1953 along with the package change, though again product association and in-box promotions generally kept the mascots of Cheerios from the limelight.

[edit] Health appeal

Cheerios' health appeal stems from its lack of artificial flavoring and coloring, low sugar, fat, and cholesterol content, and being a source of dietary fiber and folic acid. Beginning in 1996, Cheerios featured the American Heart Association's seal of heart and checkmark indicating it had met the AHA nutrition guidelines for its food certification program. This in part led to Cheerios being issued the first health-claim confirmation by the Food and Drug Administration that Cheerios, oatmeal, and oat products can lower the risk of heart disease in 1997, along with a medical journal study in 1998 indicating that Cheerios could in fact lower blood cholesterol levels when eaten as a part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Recently, General Mills created an all-natural organic food version of Cheerios. Rather than introduce this new product as organic Cheerios, General Mills chose to use the Cascadian Farm brand in order to sell "Purely O's" so that consumers would not view the original Cheerios as somehow inferior to the organic Purely O's.

[edit] Marketing, promotions, and cultural association

Since its inception, strong marketing and association with cultural icons allowed Cheerios to achieve brand dominance through children. It has maintained a prominent position as a breakfast cereal since its creation, in the face of generic brand competition, largely due to its strategic association with American culture and its focus on advertising to youth. It is a common early finger food for babies.

Cheerios' association with The Lone Ranger was the longest of the Cheerios brand promotions, on radio from 1941 until 1949, and continuing with The Lone Ranger on television programs into the early 1960s. Encouraging children watching and listening to request for Cheerios cereal by name, the association was one of the most profitable in brand history. Other icons that have been prominently featured in association with Cheerios include Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby Doo, Star Wars, Peanuts, and several NASCAR drivers. Also, General Mill's attempts to characterize the brand as a healthy breakfast have led many diet and health-conscious consumers to the cereal.

In the 1978 film Superman: The Movie, Martha Kent places a Cheerios box prominently in front of the camera (as if intended to be a movie tie-in) at the beginning of the scene where Clark Kent is out in the middle of the field watching the sunrise.

In the television show Seinfeld, the show's main character, Jerry Seinfeld, would curiously order a bowl of Cheerios at a diner instead of a regular meal.

In the 1989 movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the climatic scene involves one of the shrunken characters swimming in a bowl of Cheerios and almost being eaten by his regularly-sized father. This product placement scene was widely used in television ads for the film.

In 2000 in association with the United States Mint, General Mills included approximately 10,000,000 coins in boxes of all varieties of Cheerios. Year 2000 dated pennies were the generally included promotion, though every 2000th box included the first public release of the Sacagawea dollar coin. In specially marked boxes were included over $100,000 of pennies, $5,000 of dollar coins, and $227,000 in authentication certificates.

In 2002, Canadian singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne released her Let Go CD in the U.S. The track, "Nobody's Fool," includes a reference to Cheerios breakfast cereal.

In 2005, Cheerios was introduced to Australia through Nestle and has been marketed as a healthy cereal containing four whole grains; oats, wheat, corn and rice. It comes with the slogan "Four things are better than one." It is also marketed as "Four good reasons to love Cheerios."

In 2006, Happiness Runs by Donovan was used as the jingle for Fruity Cheerios. It was later changed to a version done by kids.

In one episode of Family Guy, Peter is eating cereal, and says, "There's a message in my Alpha-Bits! It says, "Ooooo!" Brian says, "Peter, those are Cheerios."

In The Simpsons, a fictional brand of cereal is the "Krusty-O's", a parody of Cheerios.

[edit] Taglines

Throughout its history, Cheerios has changed slogans in response to market trends, and in recent years it has emphasized its health benefits. Most slogans were developed with the knowledge that product and corporate advertising would most likely overshadow the slogan itself, though they have played roles in most Cheerios advertisements.

  • "The Breakfast Food You’ve Always Wanted!" (1941)
  • "Cheer up with Cheerioats" (1942)
  • "Cheerioats: For Fighters on the Homefront" (1943)
  • "Cheerioats: The New Flavor King of Cereals" (1944)
  • "Look! An Oat Cereal All Ready to Eat” (1944)
  • "Cheerios: The First Ready-To-Eat Oat Cereal” (1945)
  • "The ‘Power’ Breakfast the Whole Family Loves” (1958)
  • "The Big G stands for Goodness" (in reference to the General Mills' G) (1962)
  • "Go with the Goodness of Cheerios" (1964)
  • "Nutrition: That’s the Cheerios Tradition" (1971)
  • "Oats, the Grain Highest in Protein" (1971)
  • "You're on your toes with Cheerios" (1980s)
  • "The Unsinkable Taste of Cheerios" (1984 - 1989)
  • "The official breakfast cereal of melancholia" (early 1990's)
  • "The one and Only Cheerios" (1994-2004)
  • "Are you in the know about Cheerios" (mid 1990's)
  • "Four things are better than one" (in reference to four whole grains) (2005)
  • "There's a whole lot of good in those little O's" In the UK (2005)
  • "Smiles all round" UK (2005/06)

[edit] Related cereals

Berry Burst Cheerios, a 2003 Cheerios spin-off.
Berry Burst Cheerios, a 2003 Cheerios spin-off.

In the late 1970s until the present, General Mills has introduced a succession of cereals that are spin-offs of the original Cheerios. These include along with their introduction date:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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