What happened to toys in cereal boxes?

KIds today are too busy playing video games and transitioning to care about toys in their cereal.

Does Cracker Jack still have prizes in the box? That was the only reason I ever ate that crap even though the prizes were almost always lame temporary tattoos.

What happened to the 45 rpm records on the back of the box?

R2 I’m not sure! Good question.

Also, besides the question of why, when exactly did they stop putting toys in cereal boxes? I only recently started eating cereal again after not eating it for probably 25 years, so I’d like to know at what point it stopped.

What about the things you'd send off for? - three boxtops and a 5/- money order...

If my mom bought a box of cereal with a plastic dino in it, I’d dig that little fucker out pronto.

They stopped because they didn't want children to associate eating sugary foods with getting a rewarded a prize. It's for the same reason that toys were banned from Happy Meals in SF.

[quote]They stopped because they didn't want children to associate eating sugary foods with getting a rewarded a prize. It's for the same reason that toys were banned from Happy Meals in SF.

Jesus. Kids can’t have anything fun these days thanks to the nutrition nazis. Ironically, kids are fatter now than ever before, yet when I was a kid and there were toys in cereal boxes and Happy Meals, most kids were thin. Go figure.

That’s not true. What a ridiculous false narrative. They wouldn’t be ashamed of “rewarding” kids for eating THEIR OWN FUCKING PRODUCT.

Ok I looked it up. It was because of safety/choking hazards, and because a physical toy in the digital age is now considered uncool.

Yet look at all the adults in line at fast food joints pigging out like crazy and buying cases of sugary soda like Mountain Dew at the stores. McDonald's Happy Meals aren't that bad in terms of calories and nutritional information. Let them have their toys.

My mother would just get pissed because I would spill half the cereal out of the box trying to dig in it for the toy.

[quote] My mother would just get pissed because I would spill half the cereal out of the box trying to dig in it for the toy.

At some point in the 80s they started putting the prize outside the cereal bag probably for this very reason although potential choking hazard was the official explanation

R2 = John McGiver.

Believe me, the choking hazard was overblown.

We were thin because we went outside and played everyday after eating cereal…or McDonalds. WE burned calories as opposed to the youth of today.

I still have my Duz detergent parfiat glass!

I remember getting a few of these.

The secret to getting the CrackerJack prize early was opening the box upside-down.

[quote] That’s not true. What a ridiculous false narrative. They wouldn’t be ashamed of “rewarding” kids for eating THEIR OWN FUCKING PRODUCT.

You’re mistaking who the They are. Just like McDonald’s didn’t ban their own Happy Meals toys.

I am a teacher and I am always surprised by the number of kids who chide me for drinking Monster energy drinks because they're bad for me. Kids today really are more health conscious than in the past.

Wait you’re saying the cereal companies were directed by regulators not to put toys in cereal? Could you provide details please?

Objects small enough to be a toy in a cereal box is a swallowing hazard, putting a swallowing hazard in a box of food is a lawsuit waiting to happen. That is what happened to toys in cereal boxes.

[quote]I am a teacher and I am always surprised by the number of kids who chide me for drinking Monster energy drinks because they're bad for me. Kids today really are more health conscious than in the past.

Yet these same kids are addicted to their phones and can’t remember what someone said five minutes ago because their attention spans are so short now.

[quote]Objects small enough to be a toy in a cereal box is a swallowing hazard, putting a swallowing hazard in a box of food is a lawsuit waiting to happen. That is what happened to toys in cereal boxes.

Umm…the toy was always wrapped in its own packaging and was impossible to miss. It’s not like it blended in with the cereal and you would accidentally swallow it.

Yeah, I don’t get the swallowing thing. The toy was always wrapped in plastic.

Plus I’m sure the manufacturer loved toys because it meant less product they had to put in the box.

They still have them in boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

My mother always insisted we eat the toy.

Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a PRIIIIIIIIIZZEE.

That's what you get in Cracker Jack!

I have it on good authority that toys in the boxes are what killed Mikey from Life cereal.

A story like that’s GOTTA be true.

Sorry for going off-topic but this thread reminds me of all the Bazooka Joe ads and comic book ads for seahorse monkeys and crappy toys. I wonder if those ads still exist in gum wrappers and comic books.

My mom would get annoyed when I picked the cereal I wanted based on which came with the best toy. Sorry Mommy.

Your mom and a thousand others, r31

My favorite toy was a Josie and the Pussycats plastic cereal spoon. I can't remember which brand of cereal it came in.

My mother would get so sick of my brother and me fighting over the prize that she made a rule that it would go to whoever got the prize in their bowl. There was no more digging through the cereal allowed.

Does anybody else remember Post Alpha-bits that had baseball trading cards on the back?

I ate a box a week just to get another card.

And after she’d buy the cereal we wanted for the toy, when we got home she’d empty the box into a big bowl so we could have the toy right away.

Are there people in other countries who eat crappy cereal for breakfast besides fatty Americans? People in Asia don't eat it, evidently.

I used to work for General Mills. It's a pain in the ass to put toys in the boxes.

And they still do toys from time to time

Because kids today are morons and don't know you're suppose to eat the small object wrapped in a plastic bag?

Toys in cereal and Cracker Jack boxes. Plus, Wacky stickers in Wonder Bread that we used to put on the fridge.

They probably stopped doing it out of fear of being sued because some kid ate the toy/sticker. Even 3/4 year old me knew better in the 70s.

McDonalds used to have really decent prizes in their Happy Meals. I still have my Great Muppet Caper glasses from 1981-1982. I still had one of the E.T. glasses until a year or so ago when I finally broke it. Now if Happy Meals or cereals even come with a prize, it's some cheap piece of shit that no one really wants.

R29: I heard Mikey died when his stomach exploded from Pop Rocks and soda lol.

too many lawsuits from kids getting hurt on the toys.... fucking lawyers.

my mother bought like four boxes of Cap'n Crunch or Sugar Pops so I could get the toy ring with the secret compartment; I actually don't recall if we ever got a box with that ring in it, but I recall her buying the multiple boxes.

R29 I thought Mikey died from mixing pop rocks and soda.

R41/r44

No, no. That’s what they WANT you to believe. See it’s all a cover-up by the Cereal Industrial Complex to keep it quiet. They’ve got that trope floating all over the place with obstacles everywhere you look designed to conceal the real truth. What’s black is white and what’s white is black.

Trust me on these things. I’ve got the “in.”

But I can’t say much more without being in danger.