Produced by YWOW GAMES in 2020 and under licence from the Kellog Company, these six collectable jigsaw puzzles depict the classic Kellogg’s cereal designs of Cornflakes, Frosties, Coco Pops, Special K, Crunchy Nut and Rice Krispies. Each 50-piece jigsaw comes with a mini poster.
TVTA has been collecting these since the beginning of 2022, and is now pleased to have completed the set. Enjoy the images, as we tuck into a nice bowl of Frosties and declare… They’re Grrreat!
Let me take you back to a post I made in June 2018 concerning the discovery of promo photos from a 1951 Kellogg’s Cornflakes advertising campaign featuring my grandparents, and my mother and auntie when they were five-year old twins.
The promo photos:
(including digital repair versions, many thanks to For Tyeth)
The original post can be seen here but long story short: our family had never seen any of the adverts placed in newspapers or magazines from the time, despite many searches, and so much so that we began to view the event as a myth, even though we had some original pictures from the photo shoot.
That is, until now, and thanks to my super sleuth eldest cousin in the UK, we finally have proof that my family were indeed used in the campaign across not one, not two, but at least ten national and local newspapers across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
To say I’m absolutely delighted to finally have scans of some of these adverts would be a huge understatement.
I’m still jumping for joy!
Here they are at last (click to enlarge) …
The Belfast Telegraph – 15 January. 1951.
Kellogg’s Cornflakes advert Waight family. Belfast Telegraph 15 Jan 1951.
The Coventry Evening Telegraph – Tuesday 23 January. 1951.
Kellogg’s Cornflakes advert Waight family. Coventry Evening Telegraph – Tuesday 23 January 1951.
1950s housewives and working husbands
I had to laugh at the outdated tone of the ads, with lines like: “My husband works harder on a good breakfast” and “Give a man Kellogg’s with his breakfast. My husband never misses his” – typical 1950s style statements if ever there was.
Of course, my nan never remained a cornflake-serving good housewife (and actually it was my grandad who did the cleaning and cooking once the girls had grown up). My nan went on to become an assistant nurse – the same job as I now do.
Here are some low res thumbnails of the other publications and their dates.
Thanks for looking! And remember… “A good breakfast should include Kellogg’s” 🙂
Kelloggs Choko Crunch. Denmark. 1988.
Time to snap, crackle and pop with TVTA as we celebrate half a million site views!
Half a million site views? Pas mal.
Yes, since 2011 here at WordPress, the site has moved in all the right places I wanted it to, and it’s a pleasure to see so many daily visitors come check out the 4k+ images I’ve steadily been adding to the archives, along with the visits and interaction from my good blogging buddies (you know who you are and you know I love you 😍)
Here’s the screen shot I took the other day showing the magic number:
So, a BIG thanks to all my vintage mates and visitors, and remember – if it’s not TVTA then it’s probably something else!
Cereal-y speaking…
Dear vintage mates, is your office cat addicted to cereals? Is your monthly procurement budget being constantly blown on Cheerios and Cornflakes? Are you finding empty boxes of bran flakes hidden behind the office scanner?
You would think a cat might be content with just milk, yes? Bah. Not TVTA’s intrepid office cat Wooof!
Read on to discover what happened on that fatal day during breakfast; a deadly tale of cereal overdose and fancy dress costume parties gone mad!
It was in Birmingham, UK, 1950, when my grandparents were approached by representatives of Kellogg’s to take part in an advertising campaign for Kellogg’s Cornflakes. The company was keen to feature identical twins for its newest advertising run in British newspapers and magazines. Diane (my mom) and Christine (my auntie) had somehow caught their attention.
One of the 1950 promotional photos taken by the Kellogg’s company for a British advertising campaign for Cornflakes. I had to ask my auntie who’s who as it was always so difficult to tell them apart. Mom is the girl sat on the arm of the chair on the right, and my auntie is on the left holding the book.
The twins were toddlers at the time when Kellogg’s made the approach. As well as photographs of the two of them at play they were also photographed with my grandparents at the family breakfast table. Kellogg’s also took photos of my grandfather ‘going to work on a good breakfast’ (he was a welder at the time after leaving the war as a Royal Marine deep-sea diver).
Whether or not all of the photos were used in publications is unknown. My grandparents passed away in 1994 and my mom in 2017. No magazines or newspapers containing images from the photo sessions have ever been found when going through their estates, but we did discover the two photographs that I’m sharing here today. My auntie, the only survivor from the session, says that the family were paid £80 for their work – the equivalent of well over £2,000 in today’s money according to the National Archives. She also has recollection of seeing an advert in one of the female periodicals of the time like Woman, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Realm.
The second of the two 1950 promotional photos taken by the Kellogg’s company for a British advertising campaign for Cornflakes. Again I had to ask my auntie which twin was which. From left to right is my auntie, standing next to her my grandmother, seated is my grandfather, and next to him is my mom. My auntie tells me that no milk was allowed to be poured over the Cornflakes as it would have made them too soggy and spoiled the photo effect. I love the big, round teapot, and the sugar bowl, and I’m guessing that’s a jar of marmalade next to all those rounds of toast.
It’s a joy for me to at last lay eyes on two of the photos from a story that had taken on somewhat mythical proportions over time in our family. It’s also a joy for me to publish them here at The Vintage Toy Advertiser – a website that has vintage advertising at its core. The joy will only be enhanced by discovering an actual advert one day in an original magazine. Alas, frequent research attempts over the years have turned up nothing, However, with the continued effort of individuals and organisations uploading photographic content to archives and social media sites, you never know, one day!
My mom and my auntie aren’t the only twins to have been courted by Kellogg’s. It seems the well-known breakfast brand has a fondness for featuring twins in advertising, even as recently as in 2017 when another set of Birmingham twins, in fact two sets of Birmingham twins were featured in Cornflakes television adverts.
I found these three ads online while researching for this post. The first two are cited as 1948, and the third as 1960s.
Finally we have some adverts turn up!
Thanks to my super sleuth eldest cousin, several adverts published in the UK and Northern Ireland in January 1951 have been discovered! Brilliant to see these at last, as well as the image of my Grandad ‘at work’ welding which my auntie told me about. Sadly, my aunt didn’t stick around long enough to see these print images, as she passed away in 2019.
The Belfast Telegraph 15 January. 1951.
kelloggs Cornflakes advert Waight family. Belfast Telegraph 15 Jan 1951.
To see the other images and for the full story on this find, go to my latest post here
*****
Image sources for the 3 Kellogg’s twins adverts: Magazines, ads & books store. Retro Reveries. The Advertising Archives.
Updated March 2021 with Kellogg’s newpaper advert of Waight family.
By Kellogg’s – Life Magazine-page 133, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17184950
Kellogg’s Frosties is a breakfast cereal introduced in the United States in 1952. Tony the Tiger has been the brand’s mascot since its introduction, and has the catchphrase:
“They’re Grrrrreat!”
Tony is always drawn wearing a red bandana around his neck, which is sometimes plain red, can sport the name ‘Tony’, or is chequered with circles – as seen in early renditions like the Life Magazine pic above. In the first advert below, Tony can be seen wearing a spotted bow tie – perhaps in honour of his “roaring reporter” role.
I’ve always liked Tony as a breakfast mascot, he seems a friendly sort of Tiger who would probably organise lots of tiger dinner parties, and not only play the part of perfect host but keep peace between the likes of Shere Khan, Tigger, Tigress, Richard Parker and any other famous tigers you can think of!
Enjoy the ads, they’re grrrreat!
UK. Planet of the Apes. 1976.
Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1981.
Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1987.
Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1986.
Denmark. 1988.
Denmark. 1986.
Denmark. 1984.
Denmark. 1982.
Denmark. 1986.
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 