In 1941, Lester Borchardt was a
physicist working for General Mills in Minnesota. He and his team invented Cheerios
by developing a puffing gun machine that puffed oats into a small "o"
shape. Quaker Oats, however, claimed that the "oats" in the name
Cheerioats was a trademark infringement, so General Mills changed the name to
Cheerios in 1945.
Cheerios’ first mascot, a little
girl named Cheeri
O’Leary, appeared in printed Cheerios ads in the 1940s. In the 1950s (and again in the 1980s),
televised commercials featured the animated Cheerios Kid and his sidekick, Sue.
In these commercials, the Cheerios Kid gained the power to solve problems and
save the day after eating Cheerios. In 2012, Cheerios revived
these characters in a commercial to explain how
Cheerios can lower cholesterol.
In the 1960s, popular animated
characters that appealed to children appeared in Cheerios commercials. The
infamous moose and squirrel, Rocky and Bullwinkle, appeared in a number of
Cheerios commercials (though Bullwinkle did most of the heavy lifting). Hoppity
Hooper, the animated frog, also advertised games and other kid-friendly
activities on
the cereal boxes. General Mills partnered with
Disney to co-brand Cheerios boxes with comic books and the Mickey Mouse Club.
Action figures of the Lone Ranger as well as small toys were also packaged
inside Cheerios boxes.
For the first 30 or so years, eating
a bowl of Cheerios meant eating the original, classic recipe. But in 1976,
Cinnamon Nut Cheerios came on the market, followed by Honey Nut Cheerios three
years later. Honey Nut Cheerios were instantly popular, and the bumblebee
(named BuzzBee) that appeared on each box became a recognizable mascot for
Cheerios. Honey Nut Cheerios has become such a favorite, in fact, that not only
does it outsell the original Cheerios flavor; it has been the No. 1 cereal in America every year since 2009.
After the success of Honey Nut
Cheerios, General Mills consistently introduced new flavors, like Apple Cinnamon in 1988, Multigrain in 1992, Frosted
in 1995, Fruity in 2006, Banana Nut in 2009, and Chocolate in 2010. Most
recently, 2015 saw the arrival of Cheerios + Ancient Grains, which contains
oats, spelt, and quinoa. But for all of the flavors that did catch on, Berry
Burst and Dulce de Leche were both discontinued shortly after they were
introduced.
In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) took issue with the claim on
Cheerios boxes that Cheerios can lower bad cholesterol by four percent in six
weeks. In a letter,
the FDA told General Mills that it either needed to change the print on
Cheerios boxes or apply to get Cheerios classified as a cholesterol-lowering
drug. The label on all Cheerios boxes changed to clarify that eating Cheerios
as part of a healthy diet may help lower cholesterol and the risk of heart
disease.
In the last couple years, Cheerios
have made strides to be even healthier. In 2014, General Mills revealed that
Cheerios would no longer contain any genetically modified ingredients. The next
year, Cheerios became gluten-free after General Mills removed
cross-contamination (which occurs during the manufacturing process) between
wheat and the oats used to make Cheerios, though that hasn't been without incident. It has, however, helped the bottom line. Reports indicated
that going gluten-free improved first quarter cereal sales by six percent.
“I'm a little bit of an adult and still
a bit of a kid. I hope I never lose enthusiasm for things like road
trips and Cheerios.” (Scarlett Johansson)[i]
[i] Sources used:
“8
Things You Might Not Know About Cheerios” BY Suzanne Raga
www.fda.gov
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