Happy 50th Anniversary To Count Chocula And Frankenberry!

I just found out that General Mills' Count Chocula and Franken Berry cereals debuted a whopping fifty years ago, back in 1971! FIFTY YEARS! Holy crap! And I can still remember seeing them on store shelves for the first time. 

Now excuse me while I go look for my rheumatiz medicine.

The two cereals were introduced in March of 1971, and were an immediate hit. This was no doubt due to the incessant commercials featuring the two characters, in which they'd typically argue over which cereal was best, until these alleged "monsters" would become frightened by a child or something equally innocent.

Franken Berry caused a bit of a controversy in 1972, when it was discovered that the pigment used in the cereal turned human feces a bright pink— which quite rightly alarmed mothers nationwide. The recipe was quickly altered, and cases of "Franken Berry Stool" disappeared.

In December of 1973, the line was expanded to include Boo Berry, a blueberry flavored featuring a ghost mascot. In 1974 Fruit Brute debuted, whose mascot was a werewolf. Fruit Brute was discontinued in 1982, and replaced by Yummy Mummy. It was the exact same cereal & flavor, just with a different shape and spokes-monster.

Starting in 2010, the various monster cereals have only been released around Halloween. This year General Mills is supposedly commemorating the anniversary of the original cereals with a new one called Monster Mash, which is supposedly an amalgam of all of them (whatever that means).

If I'm being honest, I never much cared for any of these cereals. I'm not a big fan of marshmallows, especially after they become soggy from soaking in milk. But I was a fan of the fun character designs, and always enjoyed looking at those. I just wish they were hawking a product that wasn't so unappealing!