Let’s watch some old cereal commercials and let our mouths water and our memory glands tingle.
Honey Nut Cheerios Starring Hulk Hogan (1985)
My earliest memories of eating cereal center around eating Cheerios. I guess my Mom wanted me to eat a healthier cereal like that instead of the really sugary kinds. That was until I saw this commercial. Being the huge wrestling fan that I was, I wouldn’t hear anything but switching my Cheerios to Honey Nut Cheerios because Hulk Hogan liked them. It wasn’t long until the switch was made, and then once the sugary cereal barrier was broken, there was no turning back.
Mr. T Cereal (1980 something)
Of course I was on the A-Team bandwagon from the beginning, and yes, B.A.Baracus was my favorite character. Then the Mister T cartoon hit, and I was all in on that too. So when Mr. T cereal dropped, I was down. I can’t even remember what it tasted like, but the commercial mentions brown sugar, so it was a sweetie. And since I had already popped my sweet cereal cherry, this was a logical step. But the song in this commercial. I ain’t gonna lie, that’s just a bad jingle. But with the excitement and the urgency in the vocalists voice, you knew you just had to get to the store and get a box of this.
Smurf Berry Crunch Cereal (1983)
Back in the early to mid-’80s, what kid worth their salt didn’t like the Smurfs? It was hard NOT to like them, because the little blue bastards were everywhere. They had the hit cartoon, toys, pajamas, clocks, socks, velvet posters, and so much other crap, you really couldn’t get away from them. And then came the cereal! And if you were already a fan of the cartoon, this commercial was just like an extension of that. It made it feel like buying a box of this stuff was your duty as a fan. I bought in hook, line, and sinker. But of all the cereals on this list, this may have been my favorite. It was pretty much like Cap’n Crunch Berries cereal, but with a more fun theme. In the future we’ll have to cover the sequel cereal, Smurf Magic Berries. That stuff was the shit too!
Kellogg’s Nut & Honey Crunch (1987)
This cereal was so good. Since in theory it would seem healthier than the other cereals already mentioned, I guess my Mom was more than ok with buying this for me. And of the cereals on this list, this by far had the best hook to the commercial with everyone saying the name of the cereal, but whoever is around takes it the wrong way. It was a simple gag that they could do a lot with, and they did. Like the spoof at the end with the cowboys. I imagine calling one of those tough sumbitches “honey” would have resulted in a beat down of the first order. It was a different time. But the cereal was damn tasty.
Nut & Honey Crunch has a very deep and interesting history, as it was a rebrand of another cereal, and eventually got rebranded again! You can check out all of the detail’s in Shawn’s excellent post over at Branded in the ’80s for the full scoop.
Kellogg’s Big Mixx Cereal (1990)
What in the hell is that mascot supposed to be? If you listen to the people in the commercial, they’re just as confused as I am. While it may come across as hokey, it’s still a pretty cool visual mixing up the different animals to emphasize the mix of the cereal. The moose head is the best part, and that’s not up for debate. I don’t ever remember having this cereal, but these days, it seems like I would embrace it like a warm blanket on a cold night. This is one that needs to come back to store shelves. And bring back the commercial too. It’s one I wouldn’t mind sitting through while streaming an old episode of Buck Rogers or something equally as awesome.
If you’ve got a junk food question, junk food memory, or just want to share an observation of your own, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]. And you can always find me on Twitter posting about both old and new junk food, as well as other random geeky stuff. Stop by there and say hello as well.
– Mickey
I was nuts for the Smurfs when I was a kid, and I’m sure I ate copious amounts of the cereal… but I can’t remember what it was like.
Love the cereal commercials from the ’80s!!! Was planning on doing a Retro Commercials feature on Honey Nut Cheerios at some point.