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A cereal box prize is a promotional toy or small item that is offered as an incentive to buy a particular breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal

A breakfast cereal is a Fast moving consumer goods food product intended to be consumed as part of a breakfast. It is usually eaten cold as a ready-to-eat meal and mixed with a liquid, such as milk or water, though occasionally Nut and fruit are also added....
.

process may work in two ways. Often, if a prize is wanted by the consumer, they will usually need to collect a specified number of UPC
Universal Product Code

The Universal Product Code is a barcode#Symbologies , that is widely used in the United States and Canada for tracking trade items in stores....
 proof-of-purchase labels found on the box. The consumer then mails the labels in, often with a personal check
Cheque

A cheque or check is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified demand account held in the maker/depositor's name with that institution....
 to defray the cost of shipping.






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A cereal box prize is a promotional toy or small item that is offered as an incentive to buy a particular breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal

A breakfast cereal is a Fast moving consumer goods food product intended to be consumed as part of a breakfast. It is usually eaten cold as a ready-to-eat meal and mixed with a liquid, such as milk or water, though occasionally Nut and fruit are also added....
.

Concept

The process may work in two ways. Often, if a prize is wanted by the consumer, they will usually need to collect a specified number of UPC
Universal Product Code

The Universal Product Code is a barcode#Symbologies , that is widely used in the United States and Canada for tracking trade items in stores....
 proof-of-purchase labels found on the box. The consumer then mails the labels in, often with a personal check
Cheque

A cheque or check is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified demand account held in the maker/depositor's name with that institution....
 to defray the cost of shipping. The prize then comes to them through mail in as many as 8 weeks. However, obtaining the prize is often as simple as opening the box and reaching in for it. In reality, the prize would be in a different container than the cereal, but it is referenced in TV and comics that they "ate the prize" or found it in their bowl.

History and prizes

The cereal box prize is a concept almost as old as cereal; perhaps older. For example, Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack

Cracker Jack is a United States brand of Snack food consisting of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts. It is also well known for being packaged with a "Toy Surprise Inside" of nominal value....
 boxes often contained prizes in them, well before the boom of breakfast cereals. In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s the prizes were often action figures, plastic knick-knacks, puzzle
Puzzle

A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle one is intended to piece together objects in a logical way in order to come up with the desired shape, picture or solution....
s, and Matchbox
Matchbox (toy company)

Matchbox is a die cast toy brand currently owned by Mattel, Inc. Matchbox toys were so named because the original models were packed in boxes similar in size and style to boxes of matches....
-type toy cars.

A 1974 article characterized cereal prizes of the 1950s as "Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight

Captain Midnight was a United States radio adventure serial broadcast from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G....
 secret-decoder rings and.. baking soda-powered frogmen" whose arrival by mail children waited for "impatiently". In 1959, columnist Tom Harris of the West Virginia Gazette-Mail
The Charleston Gazette

The Charleston Gazette is a newspaper in West Virginia. It is published Monday through Friday mornings. On Saturday and Sunday mornings the combined Gazette-Mail is published, however it is produced by the Gazette....
 lamented the passing of the send-in box-top prize in place of the in-box prize. The column humorously noted the family battles over cereal purchases which the in-box prizes instigated. In late 1974, the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act....
 considered banning television commercials which promoted cereal box prizes as a means of selling cereal.

As technology expanded and became much cheaper in the 1990s and 2000s, more unlikely items such as Compact Disc
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
 single
Single (music)

In the record industry, a single is a song usually used from a current or upcoming album to promote the album. Singles are distributed through a number of ways; originally, they were packaged as "single" records with one or two other songs and sold before the release of the album....
s, cassette singles, and computer games
Personal computer game

A personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles....
 became prizes. Many times, a prize will not be independent of the cereal. The cereal box may have a famous cartoon
Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the Movie theater, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot . This is distinct from the term "animation" or "animated film", as not all follow the definition....
 or superhero
Superhero

A superhero is a Character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to act of derring-do in the public interest". Since the debut of the prototype superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes?ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas?have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other mass...
 character on it, and the prize may be closely related. Also, the prizes are not always independent of each other. Frequently, a toy will be part of a large series of related toys. This further entices the consumer to buy more of the cereal in hopes of collecting all parts of a series.

See also

  • Breakfast cereal
    Breakfast cereal

    A breakfast cereal is a Fast moving consumer goods food product intended to be consumed as part of a breakfast. It is usually eaten cold as a ready-to-eat meal and mixed with a liquid, such as milk or water, though occasionally Nut and fruit are also added....


Bibliography


External links

  • Cereal Collectors Zine