Cheerios : Brand of breakfast cereal

History

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

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.

Marketing, promotions, and cultural association

Since its inception, strong marketing and association with cultural icons allowed Cheerios to achieve brand dominance through children. It has maintained a prominent position as a breakfast cereal since its creation, in the face of generic brand competition, largely due to its strategic association with American culture and its focus on advertising to youth. It is a common early finger food for babies.

Cheerios' association with The Lone Ranger was the longest of the Cheerios brand promotions, on radio from 1941 until 1949, and continuing with The Lone Ranger on television programs into the early 1960s. Encouraging children watching and listening to request for Cheerios cereal by name, the association was one of the most profitable in brand history. Other icons that have been prominently featured in association with Cheerios include Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby Doo, Star Wars characters, and NASCAR drivers. Also, General Mill's attempts to characterize the brand as a healthy breakfast have led many diet and health-conscious consumers to the cereal.

In the 1978 film Superman: The Movie, Martha Kent places a Cheerios box prominently in front of the camera (as if intended to be a movie tie-in) at the beginning of the scene where Clark Kent is out in the middle of the field watching the sunrise.

In the hit 1989 show Seinfeld, the show's main character, Jerry Seinfeld, would curiously order a bowl of Cheerios at a diner instead of a regular meal.

In the 1989 Disney movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the climatic scene involves one of the shrunken characters swimming in a bowl of Cheerios and almost being eaten by his regularly-sized father. This scene was widely used in television ads for the film.

In 2000 in association with the United States Mint, General Mills included approximately 10,000,000 coins in boxes of all varieties of Cheerios. Year 2000 dated pennies were the generally included promotion, though every 2000th box included the first public release of the Sacagawea dollar coin. In specially marked boxes were included over $100,000 of pennies, $5,000 of dollar coins, and $227,000 in authentication certificates. Though it was not the first time Cheerios had been associated with numismatics (in 1954 Cheerios gave away in-box Confederate play-money), it was certainly the most successful.

In 2005, Cheerios was introduced to Australia through Nestle and has been marketed as a healthy cereal containing four whole grains; oats, wheat, corn and rice. It comes with the slogan "Four things are better than one."It is also marketed as "Four good reasons to love Cheerios."

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