WEBVTT - Fan Favorite: Why are we so Nostalgic for Sugary Breakfast Cereals? 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.519 Guess what will what's that mango? So at our first 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.880 week in college, I remember being in line for breakfast 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:08.080 and and there was just this wall of amazing breakfast cereals, 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.360 remember this, And we were of course away from our 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.000 parents for the first time and being independent and responsible, 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.520 and so I piled my bowl high with Lucky Charms. 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.040 I mean, I think it was Lucky Charms, but whatever 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.400 was the most nutritious cereal out there. I love that 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.840 when you were finally like free from the overside of 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.080 your parents, like that was the first thing you did 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.120 to express your freedom, was like, get a big bowl 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.680 of cereal. But yes, I do remember that big, awesome 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.519 wall of cereal. Yeah, and the people we were with 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.320 started making fun of me for eating a kid cereal 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.720 instead of musically or whatever. And then right then the 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.879 star basketball recruit Eldon Brand walked up and got a 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.160 bowl of the same thing, and it was just pure 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.199 silent and I felt like such a trend setter. And 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.760 I remember that that's when you became the most popular 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.320 kid on campus. And not really but part of the 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:58.640 reason I love breakfast cereals so much. And you know, 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.720 we used to have big cereal old parties in metal 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.080 flaws where everyone would bring a box of their favorite cereal. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.280 But uh, there's just such a wonderful association with childhood 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.360 and Saturday Morning cartoons, and that's actually why we're talking 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:33.319 about cereal today. Let's dig in today their podcast listeners, 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.600 Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.160 always I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh Ticketer 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:40.400 and the man on the other side of the soundproof 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.479 glass eating a big bowl of frosted many weeks good 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.240 choice today as our producer, Tristan McNeil. But today we're 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.520 heading back to the grocery all for a closer look 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.800 at all things cereal, you know, the most whimsical or 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.320 nutritionally questionable at all of this, at every part of 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.000 a complete breakfast. And so we'll dig into the weird 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.560 stories and surp rising facts behind our favorite brands, as 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.240 well as a few of the lesser known breakfast cereals 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.440 that time forgot. And then a little bit later we'll 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.080 be joined by Gay Fonseca. He's a TV writer and 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.280 he's spent more than a decade collecting childhood nostalgia in 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.280 the form of vintage cereal boxes. It's a fascinating collection. Yeah, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.800 and he's also the host of this really fun YouTube 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.840 series called cereal Time, which is the series on the 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.040 subject of breakfast cereal. I mean, he's been doing it 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:26.840 for a couple of years now, so I'm super excited 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.080 to just hear how he got started. Yeah. Well, well, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.040 Gabs among the most devout of serial enthusiasts, but he's 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.760 definitely not alone in this. I mean, lots of people 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.040 love cereals, and in the hundred and fifty plus years 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.799 since it came onto the market, cold breakfast cereal has 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.960 become a staple for millions of people around the world. 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.560 And you know, strangely, this love affair got its start 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.799 in the late nineteenth century kind of as an accident. 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.359 You know, it was this invention of fundamentalist Christians who 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.840 were seeking to promote a healthy, sin free lifestyle. And 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.400 much of this is you know, stories that people have heard, 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.520 but it's still pretty interesting that the bland foods, as 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.880 you know, like toasted corn and oats, where they were 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.560 thought to help suppress sexual urges and prevent arousal. And 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.200 so this thinking led to the creation of a few 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.960 notable foods including Graham Crackers, of course, but the one 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.600 that really caught on what the public was sereal. So 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.919 Dr John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of a sanitarium in 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.320 Battle Creek, Michigan, and his younger brother Well, they stumbled 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.520 upon the recipe for what would ultimately become corn flakes. 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.079 After allowing some of the cooked wheat to sit out 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.960 for too long, the Kellogg's returned to find the wheat 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.720 had gone stale, but rather than toss it out as 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.720 you might think they would, they decided to roll it 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.680 out into thin flakes and then toast them. And the 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.280 corn flakes were a big hit with their patients, so 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.720 the Kelloggs decided to start marketing them to a broader public. Yeah, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.440 and as interesting as that early history is, it's pretty 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.000 familiar by this point. So instead of going deep on 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.440 sanitariums and grape nuts, we're gonna focus mostly on the 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.000 second act of the serial story. That's the period from 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.840 about nine to the early nine is when marketing to 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.480 children really took off and sugary cereals really began flooding 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.240 grocery store aisles. Well, before we dive into that colorful history, 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.040 I thought we could take a quick look at the 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.840 state of cereal today, you know, just by the numbers, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.880 and it's amazing how far cereal has come from its 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.360 early years as this niche product to the mammoth industry 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.000 that it is now. So just looking at the US 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.839 market alone, the breakfast cereal industry now generates nearly ten 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.000 billion dollars in annual revenue. And that that's according to 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:34.440 mord Or Intelligence. Did you say word or intelligent hobbit? 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.120 It's kind of a jarring name if you're a Lord 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.000 of the Rings fan, But it's just the coincidence, unfortunately. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.760 But like I was saying, Americans lead the world and 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.440 serial consumption. It ranks fourth on the list of the 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.360 top ten package goods sold in the US, and of 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.279 American households by a box of cereal at least once 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.320 a year. And we're not the only ones who love it. Canada, 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.560 the UK, Australia, they all have sereal markets that rival 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.240 the size of our own, and in recent years, cereal 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.479 has also gained in places like China and India and Brazil. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.839 In fact, the breakfast cereal marketing industry rakes in about 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.039 thirty five billion dollars in revenue each year from the 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.920 foreign markets. So when I took my kids to India 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.440 last year, I remember waking up jet lag the first 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.520 day and they were already up watching cartoons and we're 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.120 wired on a bowl of chocos. We didn't have chacos 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.120 in all my years ago in India though, we never 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.440 ate breakfast cereals and we never ate in front the TV. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.240 So it was almost jarring to see this American experience 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.520 transplanted to India. But you know, sugar and grain is 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.039 obviously this winning combination. But I have seen a few 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.080 reports about sagging sales as more and more people opt for, 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.479 you know, either easier or healthier breakfast options, so pop 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.279 tarts or avocado toast, or you know, maybe a quick 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.200 trip to the drive through on the way to work. 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.960 And and of course there's this growing segment of the 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.880 population that just doesn't eat breakfast period. So when you 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.480 were listing those easier and healthier options and you said 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:00.279 pop tarts, which one of them, I'm guessing that's the 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.760 easier option there, but they are delicious. Well. As big 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.520 as the cereal industry is today, there's no question that 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.480 it used to be bigger. So according to NPR, serial 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.159 consumption peaked right around ninete I guess it was, and 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.000 has steadily gone downhill ever since, generally by a full 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.080 percentage point each year. And while the stuff you mentioned 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.839 is definitely played a part in that decline, it's really 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.599 due to a combination of factors. You know. For example, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:30.080 back in lawmakers passed the Nutrition and Labeling Education Act, 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.200 and that made it mandatory for all products to include 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.480 the now commonplace list of nutrition facts on the packaging. 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.400 And this made it easier than ever for consumers to 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.520 see the nutritional value or lack thereof, I guess, and 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.600 they could look at this and all of their cereals 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.560 now at this point, and as more people became educated 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.679 about just how much sugar and carbs they were eating 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.120 or feeding to their kids, you know, they started to 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.559 think twice before tossing a box in the car whenever 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.240 they're with grocery store. So I looked into just how 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.440 sugary cere it can be, and it's insane, Like the 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:06.720 whole cereal industry uses around eight hundred sixty million pounds 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.560 of sugar in its products every year, and apparently most 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.480 of that's going into honey smacks, you know, for some reason, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.120 you don't know out there, that's the one with the 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.720 cool frog wearing the backwards baseball cap on the box. 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.080 I thought you were talking to me for a second, 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.160 was like, I know, honey Smacks mango, Come on, well, 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.280 honey Smacks is consistently ranked the worst cereal for your 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.720 health because it has less than two grams of fiber 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:32.240 per serving and its ingredients breakdown to almost sixty percent sugar. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.440 It's tasty, but according to the Environmental and Working Group, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.080 there's more sugar in one cup serving of honey Smacks 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.240 than there Isn't a Hostess twinkie, no way. And I 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.160 know that it is sweet, obviously, and I knew it 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.280 wasn't good for you, But honestly, like the taste of 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.400 honey Smacks, I wouldn't have guessed it was the most 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.760 sugary cereal. But it kind of makes my teeth are 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.360 just thinking about that. But you know that that sugar 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.400 to fiber ratio might make us cringe. But there's one 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.240 particular serial eleating demographic that you're not going to hear 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.480 complaining about this, and that's kids, or at least my kids. Yeah, 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.440 my kids. To actually do you Remember there was this 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.640 great Calvin and Hobbs where Calvin's eating his favorite cereal. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.760 I think it's something like chocolate frostage sugar bombs, and 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.880 he gives Hobbs to try, and Hobbs just starts shaking, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.640 gagging from the sweetness, and Calvin says, actually they're kind 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.600 of bland until he scooped some sugar on. But what 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.560 I find really interesting is how deeply ingrained the fondness 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.360 for breakfast cereal is and so many people, and how 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.000 so much of that seems rooted in their childhood. Yeah. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.280 I mean, i'd say for most adults serial leaders, it's 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:37.920 a big part of the allure. I mean, it's what 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.640 you were saying about your kids. There's these memories of 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.600 watching Saturday morning cartoons with a big bowl of Captain 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.240 Crunch in your hand, or maybe indulging in a late 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.800 night fix of Lucky Charms sitting in your college dorm. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.600 I don't know who you're talking about, right, Well, it's 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:53.160 sort of a comfort food in a way. I mean, 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.079 it takes us back to simpler days when most of 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.600 us were a little more carefree about what we ate 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:02.360 and why. Yeah, So in nostalgia is definitely a strong factor. Actually, well, 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.520 what are some of the weirdest discontinued cereals you can 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.240 think of? I was trying to think about this earlier, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.520 and I remember seeing cuber cereal when I was a kid. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.280 Do you remember Cuberta that video game character, and and 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.719 also eating one with smurfberries? Like my parents only really 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.920 bought a sugar Cereals for maybe a year or two, 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.040 but I remember sampling some weird ones. Yeah, I mean 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.840 I always thought it was completely bonkers that some cereals 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.240 didn't even mask the fact that they were candy, Like 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.480 you know, Kellogg's did a candy corn Pops. But even 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.600 more blatant than that, there was a Nerds Cereal and 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.520 I'm ticked off that I never tried it. Nerds Cereal. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.079 By the way, listeners, I just wanted to break for 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.040 a second because Will and I have been debating what 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.640 the official candy of Part Time Genius should be, and 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.480 Will was saying it should be atomic fireballs, and I 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.280 was thinking Nerds. So if you have any thoughts on this, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.320 please let us know on Facebook or Twitter. But well, 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.520 you're right, Nerds Cereal is insane. But looking back, like 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.720 the box was so cool. It came in these two flavors, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.000 just like the candies, and you could pour orange out 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.520 of one side and cherry out of the other. Can 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:09.160 you imagine, Like, who would let their kids buy this? Probably? 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:12.760 It also makes me wonder like if so much a 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.480 serials appeal is rooted in the past, Like, what does 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.760 this say about our future? Well, you know, there's a 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.920 new generation of kids getting hooked on cereal now, and 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.960 many of them will stick with it into adulthood. And 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.000 that's part of the reason there's so many brands duking 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.360 it out, you know, trying to get kids to eat 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.880 these cereal is because people's breakfast routines tend to be 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.960 the same, you know, pretty much every day. But there's 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.080 another point to consider, and those declining sales numbers we 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.920 mentioned earlier also coincide with declining birth rate, So you know, 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.280 it's it's not like the birthrate will ever drop to 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.440 zero or anything like that, but fewer kids does result 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.680 than fewer cereal fans, obviously. Yeah, It's it's funny that 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.640 something that started out as health food became so dependent 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.800 on selling sugar to kids, but I guess that's usually 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.120 how it goes with food trends, like someone with these 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.520 very altruistic intentions gets the ball rolling, hoping to better society, 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.520 and and then you know, at a certain point, the 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.959 marketing team steps in write exactly Yeah. Dr Kellogg used 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.120 to give lectures about his methods for leading a healthy lifestyle, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.600 and he would sometimes give out the recipes for his 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.480 corn flax so that people could make them at home. 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.160 And at one talk he told the crowd, you may 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.640 say I'm destroying the health food business here by giving 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.440 these recipes, but I'm not after the business. I'm after reform. 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:26.840 I mean, he really did seem to believe and what 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.040 he was selling, sure, but the problem was that the 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.720 same couldn't be said of his brother, Will Kellogg. And 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.079 and Will try for years to convince his brother to 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.440 add sugar to their cereal, believing it would add some 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.400 flavor to what he called horse food. But the tipping 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.360 point came into late forties when their competitor Post Cereals 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.800 released Sugar Crisp, so Posted branched out beyond the health 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.240 food market with its first sugarcoated cereal, and like it 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.240 or not, Kellog kind of had to follow his suit. Yeah, 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.760 but it's really post World War Two that the industry 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.360 started to focus on marketing directly to kids. I mean, 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.360 companies had dabbled with these ads before, including Kellogg's use 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.080 of Snap, Crackle and Pop as the characters for Rice Crispies, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.480 and that marketing began in the nineteen thirties. But even 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.000 with cartoon gnomes pleading their case, you know, the these 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.240 highly processed oats and grains were a tough sell without 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.439 adding something, you know, sweet to it. That's crazy though, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.680 I like, I had no idea that the Rice Christie's 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.920 trio had been around that long. I thought they were 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:25.040 post fifties like most other cereal mascots. Yeah, Snap Crackling 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.600 Pop are actually one of the longest running ad campaigns 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.320 in history, and as I was looking up at that, 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.719 they're actually the longest for Cereal brands. Actually, by the way, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:34.480 did you know that their names are on amount of 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.240 pia sounds for what you hear when milk is added 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.920 to the cereal. But apparently Rice Crispies were always marketed 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.160 as the cereal you can hear, and this was even 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.920 before the mascots came along. In fact, the guy who 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.400 created the characters did so after being inspired by one 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.720 of the brand's previous radio jingles. Because I know you're 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.800 dying to know what it was. Here the lyrics, I 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.920 jotted them down, So all right, listen to the fairy 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.520 song of help the Mary Corus, sung by Kelloggs Rice 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.520 Crispi as they merrily snap, crackle and pop in a 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.880 bowl of milk. If you've never heard food talking, now 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.760 is your chance. I'm so hungry for a bowl of 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:09.680 cereal now, why didn't we do this before? And also 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.720 that was a jingle like it doesn't even rive. I 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:14.280 was I was gonna put it to song that I 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.920 just made up against it. So, I mean, obviously mascots 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.200 were a smart move, since it's hard to market like 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.679 a fairy song of health without them. But wasn't there 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.080 also a fourth gnome for a while, Yeah, you bet 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.000 there was pal He stood for the Cereals nutritional punch, 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.200 I think, And of course he didn't last very long. 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.160 But let's get this back on track. So gradually the 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.240 Sweden Cereals come to dominate the market, thanks, you know, 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.000 because of product placement and children's programming, and they've never 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.120 looked back since. And in fact, the breakfast cereal industry 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.040 is still one of the top spenders for a commercial 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.960 air time. More than a million Cereal ads air on 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.960 TV each year, which cost companies like Post and Kellogg's 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.720 more than I want to say, like half a billion dollars. Yeah, 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.880 well so, so all those old TV ads are a 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.319 big part of why cold Cereal took such a hold 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.760 in the hearts and minds of baby boomers, and then 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.120 they of course passed on that fondness to their now 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.000 adult children. But you know, there's another element that helped 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.040 in dear entire generations to breakfast Cereal that I want 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.240 to talk about it, and that's the prizes that came 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.720 packed inside those boxes. I mean, the prizes played such 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:18.840 a big role. Like I might have wanted a box 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.120 of Cookie Crisp, but if the Apple Jacks had one 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.400 of those wacky wall walkers in it. I mean, you 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.720 remember those sticky octopuses that were walked down the wall 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:27.880 of course, Yeah, and then of course that's the box 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:29.640 I'd end up with. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:31.480 on that. Actually I would buy a box of Cereal 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.520 for one of those. Now it's been years since I played, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.600 and they were awesome, but you know, let's talk a 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.320 little bit about how toys and games ended up inside 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.400 the boxes, as well as some of the coolest and 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.200 strangest ones to come along over the years. But before 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:51.320 we do that, let's break for a quiz. They've got 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.280 Gabe Fon Sica on the program now. Gabs an accomplished 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.960 TV writer, but he's also got the best unboxing series 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.240 on YouTube. It's called Serial Time TV, and this is 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:05.120 where he unboxes and reviews incredible breakfast cereals. Welcome to 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.920 Part Time Genius, Gabe. Thanks for having me. I'm I'm 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:09.680 a fan of the podcast, so I'm honored to be 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:11.440 on the show. Thank you so much. Now, I know 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.640 you're out in Los Angeles. Man Guesh is actually on 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.760 vacation today. He's out on your coast in Portland's so 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.600 he sends his best but but I hope you're still 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.360 willing to chat with me today, of course, of course. 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.400 All right now, so okay, we've read that you have 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.960 over three hundred cereal boxes in your collection, and I 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.600 have to ask, like, how did you get into this 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.320 in the first place, and what are some of your 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.080 more prized cereal boxes. You know, I've always been a collector, 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.360 and I think at one point I saw Old Spider Man, 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.600 so I think that was my first box. Um it 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.840 was from zero and I saw it on eBay when 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.040 I was just browsing, and I was like, that'd be 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.560 cool to have on my bookshelf, and I bought it 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.720 and then uh, and then I was like, well, you 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:53.280 know what, there are some other ones that I remember 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.040 from back in the day, and and then it kind 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.000 of just turned into this black hole on eBay where 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.800 I just was was scouring and finding old cereals that 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.800 brought back to these nostalgic memories to me. Wow. Wow, 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:04.880 now I think I've read that you've tried some even 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.560 some like thirty year old cereals. Is this right? Yeah? Yeah. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.520 When I first started this un boxing channel on YouTube, 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.040 and I started it because I started to run out 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.720 of room of just having these unopened cereal boxes on 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.200 my shelf and it was like, you know, this is 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.760 just taking up space and this is kind of silly. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.840 I could just flatten them out, so I I decided like, well, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.920 let's for posterity, let's just record myself opening these boxes 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.080 and and you know, recording with the cereal looks like 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.080 and documenting it so I'll have it, you know, for posterity, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.640 and uh, and I never thought I was like going 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.120 to try him, and then I'd opened some boxes and uh, 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:38.680 I'd be like, well, let me just see if it 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:40.720 holds up. I think the oldest one I might have 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.640 tried was a grim smiles giggles and last cereal, which 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.160 was from the seventies I believe, and it was pretty grass. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.040 I'm guessing, Oh man, they're terrible. They just don't you know. 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.920 It tastes mostly like it tastes like the plastic in 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.520 a way. It takes very toxic and disgusting. But I 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.200 would I definitely do not recommend it. I can't imagine now. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:00.960 And in terms of yereals, are there any that you 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.000 wish you could have tasted if you could go back 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.320 in time? Yeah? Absolutely, There's one from before my time 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.960 in the seventies called It's a Great Fellow. It was actually, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.920 um they released a Great Fellow and Baron von red Berry. 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.359 There were General Mills cereals and uh, this is a 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.800 Great Fellow. One tasted like you know, grape, the grape 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.200 cereal or grape kool aid. I imagine I never actually 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.359 got to try it, but I'm a I'm a sucker 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.359 for great flavored things. And uh and even though I 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.200 got a nerd cereal which came out in the eighties, 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.400 which I which I got to try back and back then, 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.720 I it just wasn't the same, you know, it wasn't 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:35.960 it wasn't that great great flavor. It was kind of 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.879 it wasn't a great cereal. And sir, great fellow, just 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.800 just like I look at the ad campaigns I see 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:42.800 on YouTube and I'm just like this, this was like, 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.280 this is great. I really wish I was alive for 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.720 this one. I could I could try that one. Yeah, yeah, Now, 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:49.520 how about any boxes you'd love to add to your 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.360 collection but haven't been able to get a hold of 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.040 For me, I I kind of at this point, I 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:55.960 feel like I'm at peace and I've kind of completed 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.480 my collection and kind of everything I want. There is 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.960 one really random cereal from General Mills in the nineties. 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.119 It was called Buen You Litos, and I remember it. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.680 It was on shelves for a limited time and I 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.120 just can't find a box of that anywhere. And that's 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.439 probably like the last you know, my great you know, 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.720 white whale that I'm trying to obtain. Still, I don't know, Gabe. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.720 I'm hearing in your voice that maybe you're not quite 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.960 at piece yet until you find that. So off, if if, 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.159 if any of our listeners out there know how to 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.960 get a hold of some did you say buenolitos? Yes, 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.280 all right, we'll see what we can do for you. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.000 So there'll be a free part time genius t shirt 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:34.800 on the line for these people. But but before we 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.440 let you go, Mango did leave me a quiz titled 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.520 the most Important Meal Quiz of the Day. So I'm 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.159 gonna ask you a few questions if you obscure serial 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:45.919 questions and all you gotta do is answer them. How 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.080 does that sounds? All right? I'll give it my best, alright? 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.439 Question number one. According to a nineteen fifty six confidential 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.680 magazine report, what Breakfast Cereal was supposedly responsible for Frank 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:01.760 Sinatra's success with women. It's got it is wheaties. Yeah. 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.520 The article claimed that Sinatra could thank wheaties for his 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:09.680 reputation as the quote Tarzan of the Boudoir. So yes, 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.240 congratulations there, alright? One for one. Question number two. Before 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.560 a certain tiger became spokes animal for this breakfast cereal. 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.960 He had to beat out three other contenders, Elmo the Elephant, 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.399 Newt the new and Katie the Kangaroo. What cereal are 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:28.000