Honey Nut Cheerios

Honey Nut Cheerios is a variation of Cheerios breakfast cereal, introduced in 1980 by General Mills. As the first variation from Cheerios, it is sweeter than the original, with a honey and almond flavor. While this product used to be made with actual nuts, as of 2006, the nuts were discontinued, and natural almond flavor used instead.

Mascot and promotions

Their mascot is an anthropomorphic bee designed for the first commercials by Dean Yeagle at Zander's Animation Parlour in NYC. Originally he was nameless, but in 2000, a contest was held to name him. An 11 year old girl from Texas named Kristine Tong gave him the name Buzzbee [ [http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/GeneralMills_History_Beginnings.pdf "General Mills Corporate History"] ] , later shortened to just Buzz. Buzz was originally voiced by Arnold Stang until around 1992. He's currently voiced by Billy West (of "Futurama" fame).

Buzz also appeared as the host in the Honey Nut Cheerios Spelling Bee game, which was named after the breakfast cereal.

Historically, Honey Nut Cheerios has participated in much the same promotional advertising as the original brand, while collaborating with the field of NASCAR, and especially driver Bill Lester in promoting healthy diets and the raising awareness of the risk of heart disease.

In 1985 Baskin-Robbins introduced a flavor based on the cereal called Honey Nut Crunch. Promotional tie ins included gift certificates in cereal boxes and special Honey Nut Crunch sundaes in store.

Advertising

Commercials for the product have been a mainstay of Saturday morning cartoon programming for many years. They generally depict the mascot tempting a hapless child or adult with a sparkling bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, and their attempts to compete for it.

The styles of commercials have changed over the years. In the early 80's, commercials mostly featured adults talking about the cereal and how good and healthy it is. During a majority of the 80's and 90's, commercials would mostly be about Buzz trying to tempt someone with a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. They'd normally refuse, but Buzz would not give up; he'd eventually tell them that the cereal contains real golden honey and crunchy nuts, and the consumer would respond, "Did you say honey and nuts?", and have the cereal. Commercials in the late 90's would be about Buzz coming into a classic fairy tale and do the same thing he's always done in the past. Commercials in the 2000's are mostly animated adventures about Buzz and his friends outsmarting villains trying to steal all the honey in the hive.

One Honey Nut Cheerios commercial that has gone on to become one of the longest-running commercials in history features Buzz paying a visit to the infamous Ebenezer Scrooge. This commercial was eventually revised to reflect the newer Buzz voice by Billy West in the mid Nineties, when the cereal's tagline was changed to "Nobody can say "No" to Honey Nut Cheerios". This commercial generally re-airs during each winter holiday season.

Taglines

Many of this cereal's taglines overlapped with each other. They were used on different advertisements.

*It's a honey of an O. (1979 - 1990)
*It's Honey Nut Cheerios! (1979 - 1992; 2000 - 2004)
*It's Irrezzzzistable! (1992 - 1993)
*Race for the taste! (1993 - 1995)
*Little O, Big Taste! (1995 - 1999)
*Nobody can say "No" to Honey Nut Cheerios. (1995 - 2004)
*Bee happy, bee healthy! (2001 - Current)

Health appeal

Honey Nut Cheerios maintains much of the same health appeal of the original Cheerios, due to its soluble fiber. Package nutritional information explains that "three grams of soluble fiber daily from whole grain oat foods, like Honey Nut Cheerios, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Honey Nut Cheerios has 0.75g per serving." [cite web|url=http://www.cheerios.com/ourCereals/HoneyNutCheerios/HNCAndCholesterol.aspx|title=Honey Nut Cheerios and cholesterol] This has been linked to the ability to lower cholesterol. As with Cheerios, the American Heart Association certified the cereal as "heart-healthy" for meeting the food criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol content.

References

External links

* [http://www.cheerios.com/ Cheerios official site]
* [http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/health_wellness/in_the_news_detail.aspx?itemID=7755&catID=7586&section=news 25th Anniversary of Honey Nut Cheerios press release]