Cheerios

Cheerios, the first oat-based and ready-to-eat without cooking cereal, is a brand of breakfast cereal created in 1941 and marketed by the General Mills cereal company of Golden Valley, Minnesota. In some other countries (including the UK), it is sold by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand. These products marketed as "Cheerios" differ from the US - for example, in the UK and Ireland, consisting of "four grains" (actually five, but four colours of 'O's): maize, oats, barley, wheat and rice.

History

The introduction of Cheerios on May 1, 1941 by the name of "CheeriOats" was marked by an aggressive production and marketing strategy that was an attempt to associate the American cold cereal breakfast with Cheerios. 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".

Related Topics:
May 1 - 1941 - Mascot - 1942 - The Lone Ranger

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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.

Related Topics:
Television - Radio - 1953 - Limelight

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