The Last Great Cereal Mascot

The only newsletter that takes ads seriously without taking itself seriously.

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before.

It’s 1952. Post-war America.

Kellogg's needs a new sweetened cereal to compete in the market.

They turned to Leo Burnett.

The agency was behind the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro Man and later the Pillsbury Doughboy.

They knew mascots.

Art Director Eugene Kolkey designed Tony to feel like another ad man at the agency.

This wasn’t a slam dunk. Tony the Tiger would be up against Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu.

Katy actually made it to shelves along with Tony.

She did not last.

But Tony was destined to be a star. (Also listen very carefully to that ad where they say you need milk or cream. Let me get this straight, people where just out there eating cereal with cream?).

There is this funny bit where Newt talks about what could have been.

Elmo would be DFA’d and picked up by the brand’s Cocoa Krispies.

The team that made the design of Tony was Quartet Films.

These were veteran Disney animators who also designed Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Jolly Green Giant and the Baltimore Orioles mascot.

Tony’s voice would become iconic thanks to Thurl Ravenscroft.

That deep bass that would embody Tony for five decades. It’s not settled canon whether it was Ravenscroft or copywriter John E. Matthews who came up with the signature, "They're grrreat!" line.

But does it matter? It happened.

Ravenscroft would also sing,"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." That’s talent.

PEAK TONY

After Tony wrestled control of the sole mascot gig, he was everywhere.

By the 1970s Tony had a full family. Mama Tony, Mrs. Tony, Tony Jr. and daughter Antoinette.

They gave him a full on Italian-American background.

In the 1980s, there is no way to frost or sugar coat this.

Tony got absolutely jacked. Started riding horses.

Then he would be the coach and sports tie in that brands wanted.

And that you could show ‘em you’re a tiger. Another 10/10 line.

Tony did make some questionable corporate judgement calls.

Transporting the secret of Frosted Flakes in a hot air balloon seemed risky, even if you were a tiger.

One time he was almost duped by a female tiger robot too. (and um, I feel completely ripped off that i was never able to try Banana Frosted Flakes)

Tony even went on some side quests of other taglines like “The taste that adults have grown to love.”

THEN THE FROSTING GETS WET

But all was not great on the Frosted Flakes mascot front.

Exxon started using a Tiger in its advertising. Like the Cold War, Kellogg’s and Exxon maintained peace for nearly 30 years. The two giants were spending billions on ads and ads with Tigers.

Then Exxon called their stores, Tiger Marts. And Tony’s legal team pounced. They would settle this after a brief battle in court.

There was also a battle with the 1988 Summer Olympics and mascot Hodori. The similarity is uncanny.

But it was health that had Tony on the run.

Chile banned cereal mascots from sugary food packaging in 2016.

Mexico followed in 2018 by stripping Tony off the boxes.

The UK tightened HFSS restrictions, and Kellogg's removed the cereal from their UK Variety Packs because the sugar content was too high. A real Brexit for sugar - or Sweetxit if you will.

Kellog’s fought back.

In Mexico after 380,000 boxes of Kellogg's cereal was seized, they went science on them. They reformulated Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops, replacing sugar with a zero-calorie sweetener called allulose.

Apparently you can find two versions of Frosted Flakes side by side in stores: a plain box with warning labels and no Tony, and a reformulated box with Tony on it.

Tony is still on the boxes here. But the walls are closing in around him.

THE AD LESSON

What’s the lesson?

Saturday morning cartoons.

A bowl that was mostly sugar.

A tiger telling you it was great.

Nobody ever questioned it.

Tony wasn’t selling cereal. He was making friends.

And forty years later we are still reaching for the box with the tiger on it.

That’s why governments came after him.

Not because he failed. Because he worked too well.

The ban is, in a twisted way, the ultimate proof of concept.

Kellogg’s response is a masterclass.

They hired lobbyists, found a loophole in sweetener classification, reformulated just enough to keep Tony on the box.

They didn’t save the cereal. They saved their billion dollar mascot.

That tells you everything about what Tony the Tiger is worth.

I GIVE YOU THE PINK SQUIRREL

Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge has been open in Milwaukee since 1936. Started as a beer hall.

Two years in, owner Bryant Sharp ripped out the jukebox, put in a record player playing only classical music, carpeted the floors, blocked the windows and turned down the lights.

Possibly the first cocktail bar in Milwaukee was born.

Nobody knows much about Bryant Sharp. His obituary in the Milwaukee Sentinel described him simply as “owner of a cocktail lounge.” That is a great last line.

In 1941 Sharp invented the Pink Squirrel, possibly for a cocktail competition. Crème de noyaux, white crème de cacao, heavy cream. Or, in Bryant’s original version, vanilla ice cream instead of cream.

Crème de noyaux is made from apricot kernels or peach and cherry pits.

It tastes like almond and turns pink when mixed with anything white.

Historically it contained trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide — not usually dangerous, but old bottles left in a cellar long enough could apparently float all the cyanide to the top. Dorothy Sayers used this in a murder mystery called Bitter Almonds. Cocktail ingredients used to be way more interesting.

The Pink Squirrel became a supper club staple across Wisconsin. Ordered by women at mid-century dinner clubs while their husbands drank Scotch and felt serious about it. Sweet, pink, creamy, about 10% ABV. An adult milkshake with a name that sounds like a cartoon character.

Tony the Tiger launched in 1952. The Pink Squirrel was already there, holding down the Midwest bar, waiting for him. Wonder if anyone has had Frosted Flakes in their Pink Squirrel?

Both are sweet in a way that feels aggressively innocent by current standards. Bryant’s still serves it. They have over 450 drinks on a list they don’t show you — the bartender just asks what you’re in the mood for. A fire gutted the place in 1971 and the then-owner rebuilt it from scratch rather than take the insurance money.

That’s a bar worth drinking a Pink Squirrel in.

THE RECIPE

• 3/4 oz crème de noyaux

• 3/4 oz white crème de cacao

• 1 oz heavy cream

Shake hard with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Grate fresh nutmeg over the top. The OG version used vanilla ice cream.

Don’t have any crème de noyaux? I mean what kind of a weirdo does? Shhhh. Just try 3/4 oz amaretto plus a splash of cherry syrup gets you close enough. Then AI yourself into an old ad. Everything will be just fine.

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The Drink Cart. A newsletter version of sitting at a really good bar with someone who thinks too much about advertising and won’t shut up about it. Wednesdays and Fridays.