Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sugar Crisp Cereal Haunted House

There was a time not too long ago when cereal companies proudly boasted about the high sugar content of their products. Case in point: Post Sugar Crisp cereal. Not only did it have the word "SUGAR" right there in its name, but its animated mascot was named Sugar Bear.

Sugar Bear's shtick was stealing boxes of his namesake cereal from good-natured nemeses Granny Goodwitch through repeated home invasions. In this TV ad (not sure of the year, but I'm guessing 1966 based on the box art [the cereal's name was changed to Super Sugar Crisp by 1968]) Granny Goodwitch tries to avert the Sugar Bear's latest attempt by using magic to transform her home into an uninviting haunted house.

Sugar Bear finally unmasks Granny, who was disguised as the ghost.

Granny doesn't seem too concerned as she casually folds up her giant bat decoration.

In The Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror X (Season 11, 1999), Homer alludes to an eerily similar adventure.

Lisa:
I still can't believe we escaped from those horrible vampires.

Homer:
It was worth it to get back our Super Sugar Crisp cereal.

As consumers became increasingly health conscious, Super Sugar Crisp was renamed to the less incendiary Super Golden Crisp (and then just Golden Crisp).

The Sugar Crisp haunted house commercial can be found on a bargain bin 3-disc DVD set called 1001 Classic Commercials.

Cereal Boxes & Prizes: 1960s (Scott Bruce, 1998) is an excellent picture book and price guide of cereal boxes, advertising and prizes.

Buy The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season here.
at

3 comments:

  1. suzanneJanuary 11, 2010 at 4:50 AM

    I wasn't aware of a name change to "Golden Crisp". In my part of the world it's still Sugar Crisp. Same intrepid bear. Just bought a box last week :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brother BillJanuary 11, 2010 at 6:26 AM

    We still have the bear...just lost the "Sugar". Here's a product link from Amazon groceries for Golden Crisp if you care to see the current box design (although I see the ghost of the original name still resides in the link...)
    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=sugar+crisp+cereal

    ReplyDelete
  3. StephenJanuary 11, 2010 at 8:25 AM

    Even as a kid, I recognized Sugar Bear's voice was based on Dean Martin's (like the Ant in the Ant and the Aardvark cartoons).

    My sons asked me the other morning why it was called Golden Crisp, and I couldn't tell them. It's not nearly as interesting - or truthful - as Super Sugar Crisp.

    ReplyDelete