Cereal consumption was going strong; cereal was so ubiquitous that it no longer had to sell itself as “a perfect food.” There was a range of different markets, and brands were beginning to diversify. Cereal could appeal to kids by being sweet and colorful, like Cocoa Pebbles or Sir Grapefellow, and include toys, giveaways, and games right on the box. Children were told not just about the sugary taste, but the figurines they could win, the sweepstakes they could enter, or the athletes and celebrities who graced the box. The ad copy may have told parents about its vitamin content, but that information was increasingly obscured by other advertising campaigns and flashy designs. A 1971 box of Cap’n Crunch doesn’t even say what it’s made of, just that it “stays crunchy even in milk.” Cereal had to be as fun as the mascots made it look in the ads, and sometimes even the healthy cereals couldn’t resist getting in on the promotions. For a while, you could send away to Cheerios for Confederate money.
