Bowl-ed Over: Celebrating Over 50 years of the Monster Cereal Commercials

Like welcome friends returning for an annual visit, The Monster Cereals come back each Halloween Season. Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry, along with the later Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy, have been a “nutritious part of any well-balanced breakfast” since General Mills first introduced the sugary cereals in 1971.

For those who have either lived in a cave or look for more health-conscious breakfast choices, the cereals are all themed after different takes on classic movie monsters, with each cereal a different flavor: chocolate (Count Chocula), strawberry (Franken Berry), blueberry (Boo Berry), cherry (Fruit Brute) and orange cream (Yummy Mummy). And each cereal also has appropriately flavored marshmallows.

When originally introduced, the “Big G” Monster Cereals were sold year-round, during an era when sweetened cereal was the dominant choice at the supermarket. They also debuted at a time when a new cereal (specifically those aimed at kids) came along with a character or mascot that would not only appear on the box but in television commercials, as well.

As the Monster Cereals have become a large part of our Halloween-pop-culture-zeitgeist, it’s easy to forget that, in addition to being highly sought-after cereals this time of the year, the characters were also part of some creative, animated TV commercial campaigns.

With this year marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Monster Cereals, here’s a look back at some of their memorable animated commercials through the years.

Their Frightened First Commercial

The first two cereals and monsters introduced were Count Chocula and Franken Berry in an animated commercial in 1971. It begins with Count Chocula emerging from what looks like a coffin in a cereal aisle of a supermarket, but is a cardboard box filled with his cereal boxes. “Don’t be scared!” the Count declares. “I’m the super sweet monster with the super sweet new cereal: Count Chocula!”

Franken Berry then barges in to say, “Piffle! Here’s the super-sweet new cereal, Franken Berry!”

The two then argue over whose cereal is better and are interrupted by a young boy who walks by to say. “Hi!” The two monsters are comically surprised, with Count Chocula leaping into Franken Berry’s shaking arms as the commercial ends.

According to the official General Mills blog, a cartoonist named George Karn, who had designed the Trix Cereal Rabbit, also initially designed the Monsters.

The animation in the commercials is very much in the late-60s/early 70s style and seems as if it would be at home in a prime-time show. This could be because the commercial was directed by Bill Melendez, who, at this point, had directed the now-iconic Peanuts Halloween and Christmas specials.

The Count’s voice was a take on Bela Legosi’s Dracula (provided in the commercial by actor Jim Dukas, with Franken Berry sounding a lot like Boris Karloff (actor Bob McFadden voiced the character in the commercial.

The bickering around whose cereal is best would be the basis for the Count Chocula/Franken Berry commercials that followed. Then, things got a little spirited.

A Ghost of a Chance

In 1973, a new “monster” and Monster Cereal was introduced with Boo Berry cereal, whose “spokesmonster” was a ghost wearing a yellow and red fedora-like cap and bow tie.

Boo Berry was introduced in a commercial that expanded the Monster Cereal “shared universe.” There are knocks on the door of the home of Count Chocula and Franken Berry, who think it’s someone who has come over for breakfast. When Boo Berry materializes, introducing his new cereal attached to the chains he carries, the jealous Count and “Frank” wrap Boo up in his chains and throw him out of their house, slam the door, each declaring that their cereal is best.

Boo Berry then drifts through the door to an announce that his new cereal is the best, and Count Chocula and Franken Berry are again frightened. The voice for Boo Berry was modeled after the high-pitched, trembling tones of actor Peter Lorre.

Brute Strength

The two elements missing from this world of Monster Cereals were a werewolf and artificially flavored fruit cereal. Both were introduced in 1974 with the addition of Fruit Brute cereal.

The character and his cereal debuted in a new commercial, which opens with Franken Berry and Count Chocula asleep in the twin beds of their creepy castle when a howl awakes them. A werewolf (wearing fruit-colored striped overalls) appears at the window. He howls, “Fruuuuuiiiiit!”

Of course, the Count and Frank are terrified enough to leap onto their chandelier, while Fruit Brute regales us all at home about his new cereal. The other two monsters then argue that theirs are the best cereals, and when Fruit Brute howls again, Count Chocula and Franken Berry are so scared they break a hole in the wall to run away, leaving the werewolf to declare that his cereal has “…the howling good taste of fruit!’

The new cereal and the new commercial featuring Fruit Brute (whose name would later be changed to Frute Brute) was just more proof of how popular the Monster Cereals were, but there was still one more to join the fray.

It’s a Wrap

It took another fourteen years for the Cereal Monsters to expand their circle, with Yummy Mummy, in 1988, who introduced his new cereal, Fruity Yummy Mummies.

In the introductory commercials, narrated by a Rod Serling-like voice, Franken Berry and Count Chocula, happen upon a tomb, where they meet the gravelly voiced mummy, whose wraps are multi-colored, like his cereal. He invites “Frank” and the Count to try his new cereal, and, unlike past commercials, they enjoy it, and there is no arguing.

The three of them even do a bit of a conga dance (“Fruity Yummy Mummy makes your tummy go yummy!”).

The design of Franken Berry and Count Chocula is somewhat different in this commercial, as is the animation, with fuller movement and detail. There’s no mention of Fruit Brute at the end of the commercial (as the character and the cereal had been phased out in 1982). These are just some of the many transformations that were to come through the years.

Chilling Changes

As with any corporate logo or product mascot, the Cereal Monsters have evolved with the times, which was reflected in their commercials (luckily, YouTube features a lot of them!).

In the early 80s, Franken Berry and Count Chocula’s commercials transitioned to a series of live-action/animated spots with young actors, including an offbeat one, where the kids stumble upon them playing pool. During this decade, the two monsters also appeared in a General Mills (“Big G”) commercial with the company’s other “cereal stars”: the Trix Rabbit, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird (from Cocoa Puffs), and Lucky the Leprechaun (of Lucky Charms fame).

In the ‘90s, the Monsters’ appearances became streamlined. As “ghost shapes” were added to the cereal, the commercials also began to add computer animation to add versions of the ghost cereal floating into cereal bowls.

During this time, a jingle also became a part of the commercials: “Franken Berry and Count Chocula coming your way! How about a monster for breakfast today?!” These commercials featured some impressive animation, in which the characters look like pencil sketches transferred onto animation cels.

General Mills also got very creative with another series of fun commercial spots that featured their Monster Cereal stars “Forrest Gump” -ed into scenes from classic Universal Monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy.

There was also a lot of experimentation in the commercials and appearances of the characters at this time, including a very bizarre live-action version of Count Chocula and an animated 3-D Count Chocula commercial (to see all of the images “popping off” the screen, kids would have to use 3-D glasses found in “specially marked boxes” of the cereal).

The Monsters were also in commercials in which Scooby-Doo and Casper the Friendly Ghost-inspired marshmallows were promoted (the latter included new animation of Casper as part of the commercial).

In 2004, animation director Chris Romano took the audio from a vintage Franken-Berry/Count Chocula commercial. He re-imagined it impressively, using computer-generated imagery in a short, entitled Franken Berry Redux.

The Cereal Monsters were also the subject of many very irreverent parodies on the popular stop-motion series Robot Chicken, including “Who is Boo Berry?”, in which The Creature from the Black Lagoon attempts to get a cereal of his own.

Fifty Years

In 2010, the Monster cereals began to be produced as a “seasonal item” for Halloween, which, coupled with a heavy dose of nostalgia, has only added to their popularity. In the past decade, the Monsters could be found on various merchandise, including Funko Pop figurines and T-shirts, among others.

This fall, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Monster Cereals, General Mills released a new cereal, “Monster Mash,” that features the flavored cereal and marshmallows from Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, Frute Brute, and Yummy Mummy all in the same box.

To promote their recent 50th anniversary, General Mills has released a witty “mockumentary” entitled The Remaking of the Mash: A Monster Miracle, a live action/animated short that looks at the Cereal Monsters reuniting (it can be found on YouTube or by scanning QR codes on certain Monster Cereal boxes). All the Monsters are interviewed on-camera as if they’re a long-time singing group who is putting aside past differences and pressures to come back together and perform the song “Monster Mash.”

In the short film, Franken Berry notes, “If this crew: a vampire, Frankenstein, a ghoul, a mummy, and a wolf that wears, can mash together, maybe there’s hope for us all?”

A tongue-in-cheek, lofty thought for a group of characters who came into our lives thanks to sharply marketed sweetened cereal, but enough to keep them in our lives for our five decades. Let’s raise a well-deserved spoon for these seasonal cereal celebrities.