General Mills introduced Kaboom in 1969, an oat cereal with bits shaped like smiling clown faces and marshmallow stars, according to Wikipedia’s Kaboom entry. It is one of 4 cereals from the late 1960s and early 1970s that relied on cartoon-heavy packaging, and none of them is easy to find on a shelf today.
Kaboom, Freakies, Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry each came from a different marketing idea: a circus, a gang of seven creatures and a pair of rival pilots from the First World War. Wikipedia lists Kaboom as sold until 2010, Freakies as gone by 1976, and the two pilot cereals as discontinued in 1975.
Kaboom: Clown Faces and Marshmallow Stars
Wikipedia describes Kaboom as a circus-themed cereal with a smiling clown as its mascot. The marshmallows began as stars, and bears, lions and elephants were added to the marshmallow shapes in the mid-1980s. It was known mostly as a cereal of the 1970s and 1980s, and Wikipedia says General Mills discontinued it in 2010.
That makes Kaboom the longest-lived of the 4, with a run of roughly four decades. The creatures and pilots that followed in the early 1970s had much shorter runs. For a look at other things from the 1970s that left households, see Rediscover the Past, a Frenz Hub piece on 15 things that decorated every 70s home.
Freakies: Seven Creatures in Every Box
Wikipedia’s Freakies entry says Ralston sold the cereal in the United States from 1972 to 1976, and that it was the company’s first major venture into sweetened ready-to-eat cereal. The crunchy, light brown pieces were torus-shaped, and a cast of seven creatures known as the Freakies sold it. Tasting Table likens the shape to Cheerios and notes that the marketing included a theme song reminiscent of an old vaudeville ballad. Cocoa Freakies arrived in 1973, and Fruity Freakies was sold in 1975 and 1976.
Tasting Table says each box held one of seven plastic Freakie figures, and that complete sets of the original seven now command more than $100 on eBay. The commercials were made at Zander’s Animation Parlour by animators including Bill Littlejohn and Preston Blair, and Burgess Meredith narrated the first award-winning spot, per Wikipedia. For weekend mornings from the same era, see Families in the 60s and 70s had 8 Saturday morning habits.
The characters were based on real people. Wikipedia says copywriter Jackie End drew on colleagues at the Wells Rich Greene agency in New York City, and that BossMoss was modeled on creative director Charlie Moss. Cowmumble, the demure creature with a crush on him, was based on End herself.
The marketing push was led first by manager Jay Brown and then by Jack Forcelledo, who took the cereal into more test markets before a national rollout, according to Wikipedia. The cereal entered the marketplace in 1972. A relaunch came in 1986, with the characters recast as aliens, but Wikipedia calls it a revival in name only and says the product was short-lived and unsuccessful. The original has had a long pop-culture afterlife. Tom Hanks eats from a box of Freakies in the 1989 film The ‘Burbs, and Star-Lord wears a Freakies shirt in a post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Frenz Hub also has Breakfast Station: Top Picks for 2026.
Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry: Two Pilots, Two Cereals
Wikipedia’s Sir Grapefellow entry says General Mills created both cereals around 1972. Sir Grapefellow featured a British pilot from the First World War era and was a grape-flavored oat cereal with sweet grape starbits, which are marshmallows. Baron Von Redberry featured a German pilot, apparently modeled on the Red Baron, and was a berry-flavored oat cereal with berry marshmallows that tasted strongly of fruit punch.
The two mascots were rivals, in the same vein as Quisp and Quake. Redberry would proclaim, “Baron Von Redberry is der berry goodest!” and Grapefellow would counter, “Sir Grapefellow is the grapest!” Chowhound adds that the boxes carried prizes like iron-on patches, bath toys and wooden planes, and Tasting Table says kids could pick a side with cut-out biplanes and patches.
Wikipedia says both were discontinued in 1975 after being outsold by the Monster Cereals, which were marketed every Halloween season. Tasting Table puts it this way: both folded by the mid-1970s, and if a winner had to be called, the Baron has the edge because grape flavors are hard to find among fruity cereals today. See also 15 foods from the ’60s most boomers loved with a passion.
What the Four Cereals Had in Common
All four leaned on characters, and three of them leaned on prizes or collectibles as well. Kaboom had a clown, Freakies had seven creatures with their own personalities, and the pilot pair had a built-in rivalry. The dates show that the run was short for three of them: Freakies lasted about four years and the two pilot cereals about three. Each ran for a different length of time, from about four years for Freakies to roughly four decades for Kaboom.
Wikipedia’s entries add that the Monster Cereals outsold the pilot pair, and that the 1986 Freakies relaunch did not bring the original back. For another look at memories across generations, see 9 things grandkids remember most about their grandparents. Those 4 cereals, their mascots and a few collectible figures are what remain.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
