FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
fci elite competitor, fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, pexels.com Flo Dahm photo credit
It was a commercial that would have made Don Draper of the long running hit television series Mad Men very proud.
The sales of cold cereal certainly got a boost from it.
Life Cereal loved it even more since its brand was the second biggest star next to the kid in the commercial named Mikey.
Mikey was the main star.
Little Mikey was a fictional boy played by John Gilchrist in an American television commercial promoting Quaker Oats‘ breakfast cereal Life. The ad was created by art director Bob Gage, who also directed the commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEXzx-TINc
It first aired in 1972. The popular ad campaign featuring Mikey remained in regular rotation for more than 12 years and ended up as one of the longest continuously running commercial campaigns ever aired.
“Cereal eating is almost a marker for a healthy lifestyle. It sets you up for the day, so you don’t overeat.”…Bruce Barton
Most of us love our cold cereals and if sugar was good for you would continue to consume it like it would never go out of style.
College students love it because its quick and easy to fix since they are constantly on the go. Would any dorm room really be complete without a few boxes of cereal?
Still, as easy as it is to prepare, the cold cereal industry is struggling.
As reported by money.cnn.com in July of 2017, “General Mills is having trouble getting people to eat cereal. And it’s a challenge that rivals are dealing with as well.
Kellogg (K) said last month that sales for what it dubs its morning foods, which includes iconic brands Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies as well as Pop-Tarts, were down from a year ago.”
As reported by the Wall Street Journal on April 5, 2018, “Overall cereal sales in the U.S. have declined 11% over the past five years to around $9 billion in 2017.”
Given everything that we know about the detrimental effects of sugar, that shouldn’t be a major surprise since many cereals use one spoonful of sugar to three spoons of cereal.
Coupled with the decline in purchases of dairy products, cold cereal, while not a thing of the past sure could use another Mikey boost to have a brighter future.
“I carry my own food around on tour; I permanently have carrier bags full of cereal and bananas.”… Alison Goldfrapp
We shouldn’t give up on cold cereal but we may need to alter it by eating healthier cereals with little or no sugar and adding dried or fresh fruit for flavor.
We have a visiting writer that reassures us that cold cereal is still the breakfast of champions and provides us with the history as to why. Please enjoy.
Breakfast Of Champions: Cold Cereals
July 5, 2018
By Dale Phillip
There is no question that cold cereals revolutionized the American breakfast table. No longer did mom have to cook hot cereal, eggs or meat, and kids could independently prepare something for themselves before heading off to school. At the turn of the twentieth century, the creation of cold cereal basically began with two enterprising men who saw the possibilities and took a gamble. And breakfast has never been the same.
In the late 1890s, a rather eccentric man named John Harvey Kellogg, ran a health sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, and had created a bland, tasteless food for his patients with digestive issues. A few years later, his brother Will decided to mass-market the new food at his new company, Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, adding a bit of sugar to the flakes recipe making it more palatable for the masses, and a star was born.
Around the same time, C. W. Post, who had been a patient at Kellogg’s sanitarium, introduced an alternative to coffee called Postum, followed by Grape-Nuts (which have nothing to do with either grapes or nuts) and his version of Kellogg’s corn flakes, naming them Post Toasties, and America’s breakfasts were never the same.
Both men could thank an enterprising gentleman by the name of Sylvester Graham, who forty years earlier had experimented with graham flour, marketing it to aid “digestive problems.” He created a breakfast cereal that was dried and broken into shapes so hard they needed to be soaked in milk overnight, which he called granula (the father of granola and graham crackers).
Capitalizing on that original idea, in 1898 the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) began producing graham crackers based on the experiments of Sylvester Graham, first promoting them as a “digestive” cracker for people with stomach problems; (Seems a lot of people had digestive problems even back then.)
Fast forward and other companies were sitting up and taking notice. The Quaker Oats Company, acquired a method which forced rice grains to explode and began marketing Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat, calling them a marvel of food science which was “the first food shot from guns” (oh boy, would they come under fire for that one today, no pun intended);
1920s Wheaties was introduced and cleverly targeted athletes as they proclaimed to be the “Breakfast of Champions;”
The 1930s saw The Ralston Purina company introduce an early version of Wheat Chex, calling it Shredded Ralston (sounds a little painful);
Soon Cheerios appeared and would become the best-selling cereal in America, worth about $1 billion in sales in 2015.
No one can dispute the convenience and versatility of dry packaged cereal. In the last fifty years, this multi-billion dollar industry has spun off multiple uses, unlimited possibilities and targeted kids with clever packaging, outrageous names, flavors, colors and choices (all loaded with sugar of course). What could be more American than corn flakes?
Author Dale Phillip admits she is a fan of cold cereal and has been since childhood. Although she grew up with a mother who was a strong believer in a good breakfast and often served her family hot cereals, there was always a box of corn flakes or Wheaties in the cupboard for busy mornings. She invites you to view her many articles in the Food and Drink category, and her new foodie blog: http://www.thefoodieuniverse.com
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OPENING PHOTO, pexels.com Flo Dahm photo credit
https://ezinearticles.com/?Breakfast-Of-Champions:-Cold-Cereals&id=9971212
http://EzineArticles.com/9971212
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Mikey
https://money.cnn.com/2017/03/21/investing/general-mills-cereal-sales-down/
https://www.todaysparent.com/kids/kids-health/7-healthiest-cereals-your-kids-will-love/
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/cereal
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