Clackers was the name of a
breakfast cereal
Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...
that
the General Mills Corporation manufactured and marketed from 1968 to 1973.
Noted primarily for being promoted through TV commercials in which a box of the cereal would suddenly appear and interrupt some other activity, Clackers was a
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
-based
breakfast cereal
Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...
whose flavor was intended to be similar to that of
graham cracker
A graham cracker (pronounced or in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the mid-19th century, with commercial development from about 1880. It is eaten as a snack food, usually ho ...
s. Each individual piece of the cereal was almost large enough to fit onto a teaspoon, and the shape of a typical piece resembled a small gear with a hole in the center.
Pre-sweetened, promoted as being nutritious, and formulated to be crunchy in milk for longer periods than the mean average for breakfast cereals, Clackers was primarily marketed for those younger than thirteen years of age.
But the cereal was not a major success for General Mills, partially because the commercials, which many adult viewers considered annoying, actually overshadowed the cereal itself. The untimely delivery of toy dune buggies to be used in a promotion also doomed the cereal to failure.
[''Jay. V. Zimmerman Co. v. General Mills, Inc.'' 327 F. Supp. 1198 (E.D. Mo. 1971)]
General Mills discontinued production of its Clackers brand in 1973.
See also
*
Former brands from General Mills
*
List of breakfast cereals
This is a list of breakfast cereals. Many cereals are trademarked brands of large companies, such as Kellogg's, General Mills, Malt-O-Meal Company, Malt-O-Meal, Nestlé, Quaker Oats Company, Quaker Oats and Post Foods, but similar equivalent pro ...
References
General Mills cereals
1970s disestablishments
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