"I Want My Maypo" was an

advertising slogan Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etymo ...

used by Maltex Company of

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. It was used to advertise

Maypo Maypo is an American brand of hot cereals. The original product was maple flavored oatmeal but there are now a variety of flavors sold under the Maypo brand name. It was originally manufactured by Maltex Co. and is now owned by Homestat Farm, ...

, a brand of maple flavored

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains ( groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel- ...

starting in the 1950s.

Overview

The Maltex Company marketed Maltex Cereal, a combination of toasted

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and malted

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, for years. It developed Maypo

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

-flavored hot oat cereal in 1950, but sales remained minuscule in comparison to its competitors. At the time of the "I Want My Maypo" ad, Maltex became a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Heublein Inc. When the brand was not selling well, Maypo advertisers decided to push the product very heavily using

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

. The result was the famous Maypo commercial featuring the character 'Marky Maypo.' The black and white

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

commercial was sixty seconds long. The setting was a breakfast table with Uncle Ralph trying to get his nephew, Marky, to eat his new 'surprise' cereal. However, Marky seems more interested in wearing his

cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, C ...

than eating the oatmeal. The frustrated Uncle grabbed the hat from Marky, who demanded it back, refusing that he wouldn't eat the oatmeal otherwise. Then, the Uncle resorts to pretending that a spoonful of Maypo is an airplane and Marky's mouth is the hangar, but accidentally puts the spoon in his own mouth, and liked the taste. Marky then grabbed a spoonful of Maypo and ate it greedily. As the uncle then eagerly ate the rest of the oatmeal, Marky yelled "I Want My Maypo!" The commercial would not only turn Marky Maypo into a household name, but would also produce phenomenal increases in sales of Maypo cereal. ''Sponsor'' Magazine reported that the new advertising campaign led to sales increases, "an average of 78 percent . . . and as high as 186 percent in some markets." The ad also led to a new package design that featured Marky prominently as a new

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

. The "I Want My Maypo" ad was selected as one of the 69 classic commercials to be awarded a

Clio Award The Clio Awards, also simply known as The Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. The awar ...

by the American Television Festival and Forum. It was conceived and produced by

John Hubley John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American Animation, animated film director, art director, Film producer, producer, and Screenwriter, writer, known for his work with the United Productions of America, United Product ...

. The agency for the ad was Fletcher Richards, Calkins & Holden, Inc.

Notes

{{reflist American advertising slogans 1950 quotations

Overview

See also

Further reading

Notes