Running from the 1920s all the way to the 1970s, Pep was a brand of bran flakes from Kellogg’s which were “mildly laxative”. They were marketed as a healthy choice, yet early adverts also suggested pairing the morning meal with honey and cream.
These little toasted oat and corn stars arrived at the start of the 1960s, and were the first cereal to carry the General Mills logo. They were marketed by Twinkles the elephant, Fulton the camel, Wilbur the monkey and a platypus, who even recorded and released a record together in 1961.
Launched in 1960, Country Corn Flakes with Rice was Generals Mills answer to Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Made from corn and rice, they were extra crispy as they’d been double toasted. In 1966 they were replaced by Country Corn Flakes.
Many will struggle to remember Kellogg’s Product 19, a health-focused cereal released in 1967. Made from sweetened corn, wheat, oats and rice, it provided the recommended daily amount of vitamin E, folic acid, iron and zinc. It also had decidedly unsexy packaging, yet a small but devoted fanbase managed to keep it on shelves until 2016.
This old-fashioned looking cereal dates all the way back to 1969, where it was one of the first boxes to claim “100% minimum daily requirements of vitamins and iron”. This is despite the fact it consisted of garishly-coloured oat smiley faces and marshmallows. It lasted until the early 2000s, even featuring in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1.
Much like Coco Pops, this 1970s brand of cereal from General Mills turned your bowl of breakfast into flavoured milk. The frosted corn puffs came in strawberry and chocolate. But its biggest selling point was the giant cow cartoon on the box.
The least scary monsters we’ve seen, Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry made their debut in the early 1970s. The cereals were chocolate, strawberry and blueberry-flavoured and featured little marshmallows. They stayed on the market for 35 years, but now only make appearances at Halloween.
A First World War fighter pilot, Sir Grapefellow was the mascot for this grape-flavoured cereal with little marshmallow bits that came out in 1972 at the same time as Baron Von Redberry cereal. The TV commercials featured the pair bickering over which was the best, until they both crashed and vanished.
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These cinnamon-flavoured Os were designed in 1976 to be Cheerio’s first spin-off, however initial testing suggested they might not go the distance. Marketing director Ted Cushmore said “we discontinued a product that would have been OK for a year or two, but we didn’t want the first Cheerios flanker to fail”. Three years later the brand launched Honey Nut Cheerios instead.
This corn puff cereal which came in Brown Sugar & Honey as well as Natural Fruit Flavor had a 17-year strong run. It came out in 1979 and was marketed at busy mums who wanted their children to be fit and active. It was one of the few available fortified with 16 vitamins and minerals and featured health-related quizzes and games on its box.
Temptingly described as “Artificial Vanilla Wafer Flavor” on the box, this cookie-shaped cereal was produced by Ralston in the 1980s along with Chocolate Chip flavour. Now only the latter version still exists and was taken over by General Mills in 1997.
We pity the fools who missed out on Mr T cereal in the 1980s. The T-shaped, puffed corn bites were all the rage with A-Team fans. Simply named Mr T, the cereal was described on the box as a crispy sweet corn and oats cereal. Sadly, it has long been discontinued.
Before Strawberry Shortcake was a cereal, this little character created by American Greetings appeared on birthday cards and wrapping paper. Her foray into breakfast products came in 1981 in the form of a strawberry-flavoured frosted cereal, but by 1985 it was gone from shelves.
Released in the 1980s, Pac-Man grew into a huge gaming phenomenon and a cereal was rushed out to capitalise on its success. Scattered within the corn crispies were marshmallows in the shape of Pac-Man and the four game ghosts: Clyde, Blinky, Pinky and Inky. But by the end of the decade it was gone.
This classic cereal from the early 1980s featured E and T-shaped two grain bites in the movie character’s favourite flavours: chocolate and peanut butter. E.T. eats Reese’s Pieces in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film and the breakfast food which came out two years later was said to taste a little like them.
Shortly after the release of Return of the Jedi, Kellogg’s brought out a tie-in cereal shaped like little figures of eight. They were promoted by C3PO actor Anthony Daniels and some boxes contained collectibles such as stickers, cards and cut-out masks. It’s not quite known when C3PO's disappeared from Earth's supermarkets.
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Who remembers this 1985 kiddy cereal fronted by hero OJ Joe? In the TV commercial he rode around on an orange as he rounded up more of the fruit. Sweetened with real orange, it claimed to contain the same amount of vitamin C as you'd get in a glass of the stuff.
In 1974 Fruit Brute (a cherry-flavour cereal with marshmallows) joined the Monster Cereals gang. Followed by Fruity Yummy Mummy (a fruit-flavour cereal with vanilla marshmallows) in 1988. Both brands came back in 2013 in reinvented flavours, but have now gone for good.
If you were around in the late 1980s and early 1990s you’ll recognise this Ralston cinnamon cereal with music note marshmallows. Based on the Bill & Ted movies and cartoons popular at the time, part of its appeal was the free gifts which included postcards and an audio-cassette holder.
A super sweet strawberry and banana-flavoured cereal launched in 1991, Urkel-Os made the most of the popularity of Steve Urkel from the sitcom Family Matters, which aired throughout the 1990s. However, along with the series, the red and yellow cereal disappeared by the 2000s.
On shelves between 1993 and 1995, Hidden Treasures had kids rummaging around in the box for the cereal pockets with cherry, orange and grape centres. Its advert featured H.T. the robot who had special powers to check each one without biting into them.
Landing on shelves in 1993, Sprinkle Spangles were star-shaped cereal covered in sprinkles. The Sprinkle Genie, voiced by comedian Dom DeLuise, memorably granted “You wish it, I dish it” as he summoned up a bowl in TV commercials. They only lasted a year, but are one of General Mills' most requested products to bring back.
Fleeting General Mills cereal Ripple Crisp came out in 1993 and was only available for a few months. On the box it was described as “a whole new kind of flake”. Made from honey bran and corn, it had ridges like Ruffles potato chips which made it stay crisp in milk.
Nineties sports fans will remember this short-lived cereal featuring mini football-shaped wheat and corn puffs. Launched in 1994 at the start of the football season, the box came with a cut-out goal and encouraged kids to score their breakfast by launching the ball through the posts and into their bowls.
There have been thousands of cereals related to Star Wars. One of the most iconic was General Mills' release in conjunction with Episode II Attack of the Clones in 2002. It had two box designs, the first featuring Jango Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the second Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. It included marshmallows in shapes such as Yoda and lightsabers.
These little frosted multigrain Os interspersed with chocolate biscuits with Sideshow Bob, Krusty, Homer, Lisa and Marge's faces on them were released in 2002 in the UK and Australia. At the same time, another The Simpsons-related cereal called Eat My Shorts came out.
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This limited edition cereal was all the rage when it landed on shop shelves in time for Halloween in the early 2000s. It was crunchy corn pops with a candy corn-flavour and featured a scientist on the box.
Launched in 2005, an open box of Mini Swirlz Cinnamon Bun cereal smelt like a bakery in the morning. The pieces were shaped like cinnamon rolls and praised for maintaining their crunch in milk. It lasted on shelves until the end of the decade, before being replaced by a newer product.
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In 2010, fans of the Disney Pixar film rejoiced when Kellogg’s released this cereal to tie in with Toy Story 3 arriving at cinemas. It was sweetened vanilla-flavour corn cereal and only available for a limited time. The brand also went on to make a berry-flavoured Toy Story 4 cereal in 2019.
In 2016, everyone’s favourite ninja warrior turtles returned to the breakfast aisle – first seen on a Ralston product in 1989 – to commemorate the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The whole-grain and brown rice cereal was shaped like Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo’s faces and in the colours of their headbands.