Pebbles is a brand of
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 ...
introduced in the United States by
Post Consumer Brands
Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.
The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...
on October 20, 1971 featuring characters from the animated series ''
The Flintstones
''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...
'' as
spokestoons. The product line includes Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles.
Cocoa Pebbles contains
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
-flavored
crisp rice cereal bits, while Fruity Pebbles contains crisp rice cereal bits that come in a variety of
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
flavors with a
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
content of 9 grams per serving for Fruity Pebbles and 10 grams per serving for Cocoa Pebbles. It is the oldest cereal brand based on characters from a TV series or movie that is still sold.
Product history
Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles Cereal were reintroductions of a low market-share Post children's cereal brand called
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
Rice Krinkles
Rice is the seed of the Poaceae, grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera ''Zizania (genus), Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', bo ...
. The Product Group Manager at the time, Larry Weiss, licensed use of The Flintstones for cereal from
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
(now part of
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...
) in an attempt to reinvigorate the children's cereal business for Post Cereals. Prior to that time, character licensing had been used for promotion, but there had never been a brand created around a media character. The brand was marketed despite internal concern it would be a fad and not last more than a year. Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles were simultaneously introduced on the West Coast in 1969 and strong consumer demand led to national distribution. The brand has been one of the most consistent best sellers ever since.
[Larry Weiss, former Product Group Manager, Post Cereals]
The original working names for the companion cereals were Flint Chips and Rubble Stones, consistent with the appearance of the cereal and The Flintstones' Stone Age imagery. Frank Corey, Benton & Bowles' creative head for the Post Cereal business suggested the alternative names Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles, which were adopted.
The basic product retained the Sugar Rice Krinkles form, using the existing expander process and Battle Creek production facilities. After many iterations, the Cocoa Pebbles formula was set and has remained largely unchanged over the years. Fruity Pebbles also remained essentially unchanged for decades. In recent years some additions and variations have been made to the Fruity Pebbles product formulation. The Canadian version, no longer available, came in the form of pebble-shaped puffs composed of whole wheat, cornflour, and oat flour. Both Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles were reformulated in the early-2010s industry-led sugar reduction effort: the original formulation contained 12 grams per 3/4 cup serving, while the 2011 reformulation (still current as of 2021) contains 9 grams sugar per 3/4 cup serving.
Product evolution
Unlike its sister cereal Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles has undergone many formula changes, additions and variants. The cereal started out with three colors—orange, red, and yellow—and natural orange, lemon and tangerine flavors, but were later flavored in natural orange and artificial lemon and cherry. New colors were added over time: purple in 1985, green in 1987, "Berry Blue" in 1994, "Incrediberry Purple" in 1995 and "Bedrock Berry Pink" in 2005.
Upon Post's acquisition of
MOM Brands
MOM Brands Company (formerly Malt-O-Meal Company and Campbell Cereal Company) was an American producer of breakfast cereals, headquartered in Northfield, Minnesota. It marketed its products in at least 70% of the country's grocery stores, with es ...
in 2015 (the former
Malt O Meal
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, ...
), both the Cocoa and Fruity versions of Pebbles, along with other Post brands, began to be offered in packaging similar to that of Malt O Meal's discounted generic line of bagged cereals alongside the traditional box sizes.
Pebbles has since expanded beyond only producing cereal. To celebrate the products' 50th birthday in 2021, Post partnered with the Love Your Melon hat company to produce winter hats and shirts. Post has also Licensed other food companies to put out other food products that bear both the Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles flavors including protein powder, white chocolate bars (with the actual cereal mixed in), ice cream (with or without the actual cereal in it), crisps, and Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles Marshmallow Treats (like those made with
Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand) is a breakfast cereal, marketed by Kellogg's in 1927 and released to the public in 1928. Rice Krispies are made of crisped rice (rice and sugar paste that is formed into rice ...
), among others.
Television commercials
The earliest commercials produced by Post's ad agency
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was an advertising agency in the United States with 131 offices in 75 countries.
The company was founded in 1906 as the D'Arcy Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Early clients included Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch.
Du ...
with cooperation from
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
featured the animated Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble (as voiced by
Alan Reed
Alan Reed (born Herbert Theodore Bergman; August 20, 1907 – June 14, 1977) was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on ''The Flintstones'' and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, includin ...
and
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
, respectively) interacting cheerfully with live-action children, eating the cereal around a typical household breakfast table; others showed Fred and Barney enjoying the cereal with their wives around their Bedrock breakfast table or in other locales and situations in Bedrock.
Commercials after about 1978 were entirely animated and would have a typical plot repeated with various differences. Fred eats cereal while Barney would want some as well; to that end, Barney would either disguise himself or distract Fred from his bowl of cereal using various creative and increasingly outrageous means. While Fred was distracted, Barney would eat some Pebbles, but Fred would quickly discover Barney's deception, usually due to Barney's excitement at eating the cereal that would cause his trick to be discovered and/or his disguise falling apart. Angry about having his breakfast stolen, he would normally exclaim, "Barney! My Pebbles!" Barney would then chuckle and deliver a comedic line (Such as, "Hate to eat and run".) while running away from the angry Fred, and Fred would give chase. A frequently used tagline for these particular commercials was "They're Yabba-Dabba-Delicious!". Commercials for the cereal aired around the
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
season feature Barney trying to steal the cereal, however, in the spirit of the holidays, Fred lets Barney have the cereal with him.
In 2009,
Pebbles and
Bamm-Bamm
Bamm-Bamm Rubble (sometimes spelled Bam-Bam Rubble) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise, the adopted son of Barney and Betty Rubble. He is most famous in his infant form on the animated series, but has also appeared at var ...
became more prominent in the commercials, which were produced by legendary animator
Rick Reinert
Frederick George Reinert Jr. (September 14, 1925 – November 5, 2018), known professionally as Rick Reinert, was an American animator and the founder of the defunct studio Rick Reinert Productions. In addition to his work on two ''Winnie-the- ...
.
From 2010 to 2012, the commercials for Pebbles cereal were produced by the ad agency Burns Group using
stop motion animation
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
with the tagline that the cereal "rocks your whole mouth". The former motif of Barney's cereal theft was removed to focus on the enjoyment of the cereal.
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
professional wrestler
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied w ...
is an official endorser of Fruity Pebbles as the result of references to the cereal made by
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson over the course of 2011, where Rock nicknamed Cena (a bowl of) Fruity Pebbles based on his bright shirts.
From 2012 to 2014, Pebbles commercials changed to a scene where Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles perform
kung fu
Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...
and other
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
.
Since 2014, Pebbles commercials prompt viewers to take a side with either Team Cocoa or Team Fruity, and each individual advertisement includes a different child exemplifying their devoutness to one of the teams. Various celebrities, such as actress
Bella Thorne
Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series ''Dirty Sexy Money'' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series ...
, retired professional basketball player
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
, and professional soccer player
Alex Morgan
Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captains for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of ...
have been chosen as mascots for either group, as well.
Box cover illustrations
The box covers for the various Pebbles boxes have been illustrated by commercial artist Seymour Schachter
eymour Schachter Illustrationsince 2004.
Lawsuit
In May 2010, a controversial commercial of Cocoa Pebbles led to a lawsuit by WWE wrestler
Hulk Hogan
Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...
. In the spring of 2010, a commercial where Barney and Fred face off against a wrestler named Hulk Boulder aired on TV. The commercial ended with Hulk Boulder getting smashed to pieces by Bamm-Bamm after losing the wrestling match. Hulk Hogan sued Post, saying they stole his image to promote Pebbles and that his image had been damaged by the commercials. He used the name Hulk Boulder early in his career until his name was changed to sound more Irish. The suit was settled in September 2010 with a condition of banning the commercial from repeats.
Varieties
References
External links
*
Nutrition Facts for Fruity Pebbles Cereal
{{The Flintstones
Post cereals
Products introduced in 1971
The Flintstones