SIR GRAPEFELLOW AND BARON VON REDBERRY

Time for another look back at a clash of cereal mascots. Previously, Balladeer’s Blog covered the Monster Cereals like Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo-Berry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy as well as the rivalry between Quisp and Quake.

General Mills tried replicating their Monster Cereal success with a pair of cartoon World War One flying aces as mascots for two new cereals. Sir Grapefellow was a stiff upper lip British fighter pilot whose cereal featured oats and grape-flavored marshmallows called Starbits. Baron Von Redberry, clearly based on Germany’s Red Baron, represented a cereal with oats and berry-flavored marshmallows/ Starbits.

The rivalry between the two flying aces and their cereals began in 1972, a year after General Mills had kicked off their Monster Cereal line with Count Chocula and Frankenberry as the dueling mascots. (If you’re wondering, Quisp and Quake were Quaker Oats products.)

In animated commercials Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry waged dogfights for cereal supremacy both in the air and via their respective taglines. Grapefellow boasted that his cereal was “the grapest!” while Von Redberry insisted his cereal “ist der berry goodest!”

Continuing the war of words were Sir Grapefellow’s promise of “an aerodynamic breakfast” and his greeting “Pip, pip, and all that, Sir Grapefellow here to introduce my new grape-flavored cereal with sweet Starbits. It’s fortified with 8 vitamins and iron, too! Ummmmm. Simply smashing.”

Baron Von Redberry’s rejoinders centered around his dubious claims of being “the long-lost cousin” of the Red Baron. 

And while Grapefellow cried “Tally-Ho!” as an attention-getter, Von Redberry made with a very Teutonic “Achtung!” with an occasional “Wunderbar!” sprinkled in.

General Mills offered all kinds of merchandise like balloon-powered “air cars”, posters, iron-on patches, plus small models of the Britisher’s biplane and the German’s triplane.

Sadly, both cereals failed to sell very well and were yanked in 1975, never to return. And thus no Lafayette Escadrille Lemon-Lime, and no Cookie-Doughboy.   

For brief looks at cartoon ads featuring the Spy vs Spy style antics of Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry: Click HERE for Grapefellow and HERE for Von Redberry.