From The Scoop: Frosted Flakes Spokesman Wasn't Always a Tiger

From the November 3 issue of Gemstone Publishing's The Scoop:

Tony the Tiger wasn't the only character to like Frosted Flakes. Frosted Flakes, a long time favorite on many breakfast tables, was first introduced in 1952. Essentially a sugar coated version of the traditional Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes was introduced with four different spokes-characters. Along with the famous blue nosed tiger, there were three other characters gracing the box of the new cereal. Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu were also evenly posted on boxes of Frosted Flakes.

Frosted Flakes, a major advertiser on the Adventures of Superman television show, had at least one ad featuring George Reeves and an animated Katy the Kangaroo on it. You can find those classic commercials on the DVD for Adventures of Superman or through a simple look-up on YouTube.com.

So how did Tony take over completely? Like with so many things in life, a popularity contest. Cereal eaters had to choose between the four characters and Tony won, without question. The following year, Tony was given star treatment with a full color ad in Life Magazine. Since then, Tony has been convincing kids that Frosted Flakes are great.

So while Tony the Tiger has gone on to tell generations of kids that Frosted Flakes is great, Katy, Elmo and Newt all wound up with an early retirement package.

• Produced for the benefit of all who enjoy the hobby of collecting, Gemstone Publishing's The Scoop is available free of charge to anyone who wishes to receive it. To view the latest edition, or to sign up, visit The Scoop online by at http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com.