From the Cereal Aisle - Fingos

Product: Fingos
Company: General Mills
Years: 1993-1994

I was doing some research on Fingos for this post, when my son walked up and asked "What are Fingos?".
I told him "It was an old cereal that was made so you could eat it with your hand."
His 8 year old mind thought for a second, then he says "All cereals can be eaten by hand if you don't add milk."

And he's right.

Which I guess is why this product flopped. You didn't need to market a cereal that can be eaten by hand since ALL cereals can be eaten by hand.

Fingo's was a strange offering from General Mills. It came in 2 flavors, Honey Oats and Cinnamon, and there was also a variety pack called "Fingos Singles" that had smaller snack packs of each flavor.

But nobody bought it, because they could see through the gimmick.

It also didn't help that "Fing" is the Hungarian word for passing gas, and the word "Fingos" translated to "He Farts a lot" in that language.

Which come to think of it, probably would have actually helped with sales, had they made that public. Well, it would have helped with sales among 6-13 year old boys, anyway.

Also, part of their sales slogan was "Anytime, anywhere", which sort of makes me feel like they are threatening to fight me.

Wanna go, Fingos? Huh? Let's go....you and me.....RIGHT NOW! (wait, what's that smell...)

Anyway, they didn't last, but this strange, flatulant, eager to fight cereal still deserves a spot on our shelves.
It was a swing and a miss for General Mills, but perhaps it was just a little before it's time, as there have been several other snackable cereal offerings similar to this in the recent years.

So do you remember eating these back in the early 90s?

Update! New WWF Superstars Cereal Box discovered!

 Well this was a neat find...

Ok, ok...I know it's not that exciting. But I came across this new WWF Superstars Cereal box staring Luke and Butch, or as we have come to know and love them, The Bushwackers. We've all seen the 4 known boxes, with Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and the Road Warriors on them (as I covered here: WWF Superstars Cereal), but I recently had the opportunity to purchase this box, which I know nothing about, except that it came from someone who used to work for the company who printed all the Ralston boxes in the 80's and 90's. Among the common boxes he had, he also had a few of these Bushwackers boxes.

These are the "Common" 4 WWF Superstar boxes from the early 90s.

Was it the new box that was supposed to hit store shelves soon, but was abruptly pulled when the cereal was discontinued? I would love to get to the bottom of it, but for now, I'm just happy to have it in my collection.

How could you not love these loveable guys?

Expired Coupon Daze - Ghostbusters Cereal!

New! Ghost Busters Cereal - 1986

Coupon Expires - May 3, 1986

Boo! (hoo...)

From the Cereal Aisle: Sweet Wheats!

Product: Sweet Wheats! Cereal
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1971-197?

Image By Jason B. on Flickr

Come on, Nabisco....quit yelling. There is absolutely no need to use an exclamation point in the name of your early 70's cereal called "Sweet Wheats!". I mean, you even went as far as to not use all caps, instead choosing the subtle approach of using all lower case letters. But then, boom, you drop in that exclamation point all willy-nilly, and damn it Nabisco, it's unnecessary.

But then again, so was your cereal, Nabisco, as it only lasted 2 or 3 years tops.

I know what your all thinking: Kellogg's Mini Wheats.
Yep, I was thinking the same thing too. Mini Wheats were introduced in 1971, same time as Sweet Wheats!!!!!, but the original Kellogg's offering was actually the larger size. The bite size version wasn't around until 1980. So I won't go as far as to say Nabisco copied Kellogg's, or vice versa. They both had an idea for a lightly sweetened wheat cereal. Kellogg's won.
Probably because they DIDN'T YELL AT THEIR CUSTOMERS, NABISCO SWEET WHEATS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nabisco did have a cool box design, with a quartet which included 3 children and a blue kangaroo, which from what I understand of the early 70's (mostly from watching Krofft), was completely normal. Willy, Milly, Big Boo and Blue Kangaroo. They would sit around all day, eating cereal, playing jams, playing with the Kanga-zoom that came free inside, and contemplating future career paths once the cereal was discontinued. 3 of them went on to form 80's pop group "Kajagoogoo",  and one ended up in the San Diego Zoo, which if you ask me is a horrible place to keep a little girl locked up.

What the hell was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, SWEET WHEATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool box, not as cool of a cereal. Just another blip in the breakfast cereal history books.

From the Cereal Aisle: Bran News

Product: Bran News Cereal
Company: Ralston
Years: 1988 - ?

 Just a quick post today, and it's only because I'm always amazed when I run across cereals I've never heard of before that were from my lifetime, as I think I was rather observant when it came to the cereal aisle on a Tuesday night while shopping with mom back in the 80's. But really, when I look at this product, it's easy to figure out why it never got my attention.

Bran.

Bran is not fun. Nobody likes bran. The only people who eat bran are only eating it because they have to for a medical reason, and if they tell you otherwise, they are damn dirty liars. Kids especially don't like bran. I mean, just the sound of it...........bran. BRaaaaaaaan. BrAaAaAaAn.

No thanks mom. I'll just starve instead.

But wait, there's a touch of cinnamon!!! Doesn't matter, if you put a bow tie on a turd, it's still a turd.
They also tried an apple cinnamon version. What did they expect to happen when you have BRAN in your name.

I'm guessing that if you are under the age of 40, you also don't remember Bran News.
What a stupid name. It sounds like you should be eating a bowl of shredded newspaper.
The only person who probably would remember this is my grandma, because she used to eat a lot of bran (as old people often will), but I can't ask her, because she's not alive anymore. And I imagine all the bran had something to do with it. No proof, just a hunch.

Seriously, if I can get 5 people to respond that they actually remember this cereal, I'll eat a giant bowl of bran myself.

Guess I'll be safe.

From the Cereal Aisle: Rice Cream Flakes

Product: Rice Cream Flakes
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1968-????




This has to be hands down one of the more interesting ideas I've ever seen for a breakfast Cereal. It was the late 60's, and the country was all about free love, drugs, and doing what felt good. And what felt good to one Nabisco employee was to eat ice cream for breakfast. Not just any ice cream, mind you, but freeze dried ice cream. "THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!!" I imagine employees chanting as they carefully formulated this concoction known as Rice Cream Flakes, the smash hit from Nabisco that was going to be the future of breakfast for kids and adults across this great nation of ours.

The cereal itself was a rice cereal, but the kicker is that they covered the flakes with this Freeze Dried Ice cream they purchased from Oregon Freeze Dried Foods. There were 3 varieties, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry. Everyone smiled and cheered! VIVA LA ICE CREAM!!!! Let's put it into mass production! USA! USA!USA!

Oh, 2 small problems. It's 1968, and there aren't that many companies out there producing the volume of Freeze Dried Ice Cream that Nabisco needed for mass production of this. And the one company they had been using, Oregon Freeze Dried Foods, was shutting down.

So what should have been a national smash hit in the cereal game turned out to be nothing more then a successful regional test market that left people wanting more, but there was no more to be had. None more Rice Cream Flakes.

Anyone else thinking it's time to bring these back?

From the Cereal Aisle: Buc Wheats

Product: Buc Wheats Cereal
Company: General Mills
Years: 1971-1983

Picture by Bolio88

I am not generally a fan of flakes when it comes to my breakfast cereals. Honey Toasted, Frosted, Corn, Bran.....flakes of any kind really. Maybe it's the awkwardness of the flake shape, and the sharp roof of the mouth piercing edges that they often produce. Maybe it's the negative connotation that the work "Flake" has:

FLAKE

n. An unreliable person; someone who agrees to do something, but never follows through.

1. John forgot to show up for work again this month. He's such a flake. 

I'm petty sure my parents knew my opposition to flake based cereals growing up, which is why I don't recall a box of Buc Wheats cereal ever entering our house. I'm sure it was delicious...I mean.....look at the nice.......brown box..........with that bowl of brown flakes........and the exciting "Wildlife Print" offer on the back of the box.......who needs fun prizes like baking soda submarines, or Garfield bike reflectors.......I'll be the only kid on my block with a Les Kouba deer print...........exciting. *crickets*

Buc Wheats were pretty popular for a while, mostly because of the Maple glaze that was gently brushed over each flake with butterfly wings (I can't prove that). But then for some reason in the early 80s, they changed the formula. Instead of a maple glaze, they changed to a honey glaze. And I'm sure you can imagine the anarchy that erupted when people realized what General Mills had done. General Mills headquarters was stormed by angry townspeople and burned to the ground. The cereal aisles ran red with the blood of GM executives.
That's what I imagine anyway. Hey, I was like 6 at the time, I can't remember a lot. It's much cooler then imagining people just not buying the cereal anymore...even if that's more or less what happened. 

Image by CheshireCat666

Buc Wheats had a good 10 year run as the "Sticky Wheaties of the 70's", but the change in the sweetener proved to be too much for most people, and poof, it was gone.

Maybe you have fond memories of this cereal. Maybe you wish it would make it's triumphant return to Cereal Aisles across America.......hell, across the globe.

I don't. But then again, I'm pretty much a flake.

From the Cereal Aisle: PB&J

Product: PB&J Cereal
Company: Quaker
Years: 1982-not long after that

Here is a quick post about a product that was given to us and ripped away just as quickly. It was a cereal called PB&J. It was a limited release from what I understand and lasted maybe a year if it was lucky. Which probably explains why I can find very little info about it and have never seen an actual PB&J box, only animation cells like his one.

PB was the name of the main Character, an Explorer by trade, and J was his trusty sidekick dog. They donned matching white suits and pith helmets, and brought us a wonderful Breakfast treat.

But Quaker took it all away from us. The Cereal never took off the way Quaker had hoped, and PB and his dog J disappeared. I think they were murdered. I'll let you know when I can prove it.

So how come there hasn't been another attempt at a Peanut Butter and Jelly cereal? I mean, we have seen lots of Peanut Butter cereals, and Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cereals, but why not PB&J? I think it would be hugely popular. I know my kids would love it. I mean, they love that horrible song (It's Peanut Butter Jelly time! Peanut Butter Jelly Time!)
So awful.

Were you one of the lucky ones who actually got to eat this breakfast treat? Were you living in the areas this was marketed back in the early 80s and remember it? Let us know!