Cocoa Puffs is an American

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

-flavored puffed grain

breakfast cereal Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals li ...

, manufactured by

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

. Introduced in 1956, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn and rice flavored with cocoa. Cocoa Puffs have the same shape as Kix and Trix cereal. Cocoa Puffs are sold in Canada, Latin America, and Europe under the Nesquik brand, via the

Cereal Partners Worldwide Cereal Partners Worldwide S.A. is a joint venture between General Mills and Nestlé, established in 1991 to produce breakfast cereals. The company is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and markets cereals in more than 130 countries (excep ...

agreement between

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

and General Mills.

Ingredients

On several occasions, the cereal used Hershey's cocoa in its recipe, and this aspect was heavily promoted in Cocoa Puffs boxes and commercials. In December 2009, General Mills announced that it would cut the

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

in 10 kinds of cereal, including Cocoa Puffs, to less than 10

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

s per serving. This could represent a 25% decline in the

content from the original level and 18% from the 2009 level of 11 grams per serving. In 2020, General Mills bought back the retro recipes for four ready-to-eat cereals: Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, Cookie Crisp, and Trix, claiming, "Cocoa Puffs now delivers more chocolatey taste."

Legal issues

In August 2000, two class-action lawsuits were filed alleging that Cocoa Puffs cereal contains elevated levels of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

. The complaints, seeking $5 million in damages, cite a recent study by

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

researchers that found lead in 43% of 72 consumer cocoa products analyzed. The study, conducted over eight years, identified lead levels exceeding established guidelines in many products. These findings align with a 2023

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

analysis that detected high levels of lead or

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

in 16 of 48 tested chocolate products.

Flavors and variants

A cereal bar of Cocoa Puffs has been made. A layer of dried, sweetened

condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

is added to the bottom and marketed as a substitute for a bowl of milk and cereal. In the summer of 2008, a new addition was introduced: Cocoa Puffs Combos, which consists of the recognizable chocolate puffs combined with vanilla puffs. Besides Cocoa Puffs Combos, there are varieties of popular cereals. One such example was Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch in 2011. The front of the box described that cereal as "naturally and artificially flavored sweetened chocolate squares."

Advertising

The mascot of Cocoa Puffs, Sonny, an orange

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

bird, was introduced in 1962. In most commercials, Sonny attempts to stay away from his favorite cereal, mostly by doing a different activity, but ends up coming across some reference to the cereal in the act (usually described by the adjectives "munchy," "crunchy," and "chocolatey"), causing him to burst in energy, exclaiming his

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

"I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" when he's reached his limit. Sonny was voiced by Chuck McCann from 1962 to 1978, and has been voiced by

Larry Kenney Larry Kenney (born August 5, 1947) is an American voice actor and radio personality. Early life Larry Kenney was born August 5, 1947 in Pekin which is south of Peoria, Illinois, the son of George and Joyce Kenney. He has a brother, Steven, an ...

since 1978. The line "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" has entered the vernacular as a term for somebody who is irrational. Sonny's name comes from the original format of the commercials, in which he was paired with his grandfather (also voiced by McCann). When the grandfather was dropped from the ads, "Sonny" remained the character's name. In 2010, Gramps returned to the Cocoa Puffs ads, with McCann reprising his role as Gramps and Kenney continuing to voice Sonny. Sonny was designed by Gene Cleaves. Animation pioneer "Grim" Natwick (of Fleischers' Betty Boop team) also contributed to the early images of Sonny and Gramps, according to then-contemporaries who collaborated with Natwick. Sonny was initially depicted as wearing a pink-and-white striped shirt. In 1995, he was redesigned, this time wearing 1990s " extreme" clothes and being given a more

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

-esque appearance. In 2004, he was redesigned more simplistically, this time without clothing.

References

External links

Official website
{{General Mills Products introduced in 1956 General Mills cereals