Cookie Crisp is a breakfast cereal that is manufactured to look like
chocolate chip cookie
A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient. Chocolate chip cookies originated in the United States around 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield chopped up a Nes ...
s. It is produced by
General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Cereal Partners
Cereal Partners Worldwide S.A. is a joint venture between General Mills and Nestlé, established in 1991 to produce breakfast cereals. The company is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and markets cereals in more than 130 countries (exc ...
in other countries. Introduced in 1977, it was originally produced by
Ralston Purina
Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fr ...
until they sold the trademark to General Mills in 1997.
Varieties
From its introduction in 1977 until the early 1990s, Cookie Crisp was available in three varieties: Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp, Vanilla Wafer Cookie Crisp and Oatmeal Cookie Crisp.
Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp was introduced in 2005 but was phased out by 2007.
Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp
was introduced in 2007.
Sprinkles Cookie Crisp
was introduced in July 2009. This variety contains crisps shaped like tiny vanilla cookies topped with tiny multicolored
sprinkles
Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as an often colourful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally use ...
.
Birthday Cake Cookie Crisp was introduced in March 2018.
Imitations
In 1997, Ralston sold their cereal line to General Mills, who soon after changed the recipe.
Keebler
The Keebler Company is an American cookie and former cracker manufacturer. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks, advertised with the Keebler Elves. Keebler had marketed its brands such as Cheez-It (which have the Sunshine Bis ...
Cookie Crunch was introduced by
Kellogg's in 2008. This cereal has standard cookie pieces as well as round O shapes meant to resemble Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stripes cookies.
Advertising
Cookie Jarvis
The first Cookie Crisp mascot, Cookie Jarvis, was introduced in 1977.
A
wizard in the
Merlin mold, he magically turns cookie jars into cereal bowls with a wave of his wand and rhyming incantations. He was voiced by
Lennie Weinrib
Leonard Weinrib (April 29, 1935 – June 28, 2006) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for playing the title role in the children's television show '' H.R. Pufnstuf'', Grimace in McDonaldland commercials, the title role in ...
.
Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop
In 1980, Cookie Jarvis was joined
by Cookie Crook,
an
anti-hero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...
robber who attempts to steal the Cookie Crisp; in 1984 he was followed by his opponent, The Cookie Cop (full name Officer Crumb), a
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
(reminiscent of the
Keystone Cops
The Keystone Cops (often spelled "Keystone Kops") are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
History
The idea for th ...
) with an
Irish accent
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
who thwarts the Cookie Crook's attempts to steal the Cookie Crisp.
A typical ad would begin with the Cookie Crook attempting to steal the cereal from a live-action breakfast table; often he and the Cookie Cop were portrayed as no larger than mice, so their pictures on the cereal bowl were "life-size". The Crook would have some new gadget or scheme to steal the cereal, but then the Cookie Cop would arrive and save the kid's cereal in the nick of time. Eventually, the format of the ads changed to full animation, and the duo was portrayed as the size of normal humans; an even more
slapstick approach (similar to ''
Looney Tunes'') was used in these commercials.
Chip the Dog
In 1990, the Cookie Crook was given a sidekick named Chip the Dog.
From 1990 to 1996, while serving alongside the Cookie Crook in his schemes to steal Cookie Crisp, Chip would serve as a partial foil to the Cookie Crook, often by howling "Cooookie Crisp!" (with cookies in place of the Os in the word "cookie"), exposing them to Cookie Cop and, in some commercials, often saying "Doggone it" after his and the Cookie Crook's plans are foiled.
After General Mills bought the Cookie Crisp trademark Chip the Dog continued to be the mascot with the Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop from 1997 to 2005, with Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop removed from the commercials entirely. In the format of the advertisements, Chip was a friendly pooch, no longer wearing a mask, who offered Cookie Crisp to a group of kids. Typically an adult would interfere on the grounds that cookies are not breakfast food. Near the end of the ads, the adults would change their minds once Chip gave them a taste of his Cookie Crisp.
Chip the Wolf
In 2005, Chip was redesigned into a wolf which possessed the same thieving characteristics as Cookie Crook.
His commercials have Chip attempting to steal Cookie Crisp cereal from children (mainly by creating decoy cookies to lure them away from the cereal) only to be foiled every time.
See also
*
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
External links
*
{{Nestlé
General Mills cereals
Ralston cereals
Mascots introduced in 1977
Products introduced in 1977
Fictional wolves
Fictional dogs
Male characters in advertising
General Mills characters
Cookies