Monster Mornings: Beloved Breakfast Cereal Hits Store Shelves in Time for Spooky Season
“Don’t be scared … I’m the super sweet monster with the super sweet new cereal: Count Chocula!” voiced the animated count in TV ads. The brown-colored count doesn’t get too far in his promotion before we see a pink Frankenstein’s monster claiming his Franken Berry is the new cereal. The two try to lay claim to being the new monster cereal on the market. “But I’ve got chocolate sweeties for monstrous chocolate flavor,” the count challenges. “Well, I’ve got berry-flavored sweeties for monster strawberry flavor,” Frank counters. Both monsters were right, as both cereals debuted at the same time in March of 1971.
General Mills, the creator of the cereals, says that those two cereals were “the only chocolate- and strawberry-flavored cereals on the market at the time. Their unique flavors and delicious marshmallow bits quickly became a hit among cereal fans.”
A year later, in 1972, the adorable Boo Berry, introducing his ghostly good blueberry-flavored cereal, joined the monster cereal group. Those three cereals have been in production ever since. Starting in 2009, however, the cereals were reduced to seasonal production, making their beloved appearance just before Halloween.
General Mills introduced a few other monster cereals that didn’t have quite the same success. Frute Brute (formerly Fruit Brute), a werewolf, hit store shelves with the “howlin’-good taste of fruit” in 1974, but was sent back to the company’s cereal vault in 1982. According to General Mills: “Frute Brute is considered by many collectors to be the most sought-after vintage cereal box. This is likely because he appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. While not a formal partnership, rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino is a Frute Brute fan!”
Credit: General Mills
Fruity Yummy Mummy, with a pink/yellow/purple wrapped mummy monster, made its debut in 1988 with its “monster mallows,” but it only lasted until 1992. Both cereals came back from the dead for a limited time in 2013, and it was the first time all five Monster Cereals were available on store shelves at once.
In the ’70s, cereal box promotions were aplenty and ran the gamut as kids munched their hearts out to finish a box of cereal so their moms would go out and buy another with the latest new toy or collectible all the kids were talking about. The monsters had plenty of their own unique promotions including glow-in-the-dark stickers, paint sets, coloring poster kits, monster masks and, most remembered, three monster-themed records (flexi discs) in 1979. One of the records was titled “Monster Adventures in Outer Space.”
Credit: ReMIND Magazine
As for those delicious marshmallow bits that the monsters have been competing about, originally all cereals shared the same shape for the marshmallow — a circle with a cross in the middle of it, but in 1985, the cereal pieces transformed into ghost-shaped pieces. Over the years, spooky changes were made to the monster marshmallows including brown bats, lightning bolts and swirled ghosts.
In 2021, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Monster Cereals, all five of the monsters reunited and did a remake of the greatest monster anthem — the “Monster Mash.” Then in 2023, for the first time in 35 years, the cereal giant introduced a new Monster Cereal called Carmella Creeper.
Monster cereals are back on shelves nationwide for a limited time with all new Frightful Friends marshmallows, and a super cool new back cover! We discovered the cereals at Meijer’s Grocery Stores.
Credit: ReMIND Magazine
The Mummy
October 2019
Cinematic history of the bandaged monster, from the 1932 Universal classic starring Boris Karloff featuring an incredible cover by artist Ed Repka!
Buy This Issue