Retro Crunch

I was taking a break at work the other day and decided to wonder into the grocery store because it was hot. I also decided to take a nostalgic look down the cereal aisle and lo and behold were "retro" packages of "Cap'n Crunch" cereal!

Quickly, I bought a box.

For those who don't know "Cap'n Crunch" was created by Jay Ward through Quaker Oats. Ward is famous for Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle, but turned to TV advertising when the rules for animated TV shows changed so dramatically during the 1960s. Of course, there was a lot more money in the Cap'n.

Cap started in 1963 and Ward Productions wrote, voiced and animated them all until 1984 when Ward retired. Quaker Oats in their infinite wisdom decided either for copyright reasons or stupidity to give the good Cap'n a facelift and even had TV commercials alerting consumers to this fact. Cap'n even disappeared for a time off his own box!

When he returned, it was a similar, but largely unappealing design that continues to this day. Strangely, although Ward also designed Quisp and his accompanying cereal, no such facelift ever took place. The problem with Quisp is that you rarely find it on store shelves, although now you can order it off the internet at least.

Anyway, three cheers for Quaker Oats!