With his layers of gold chains, Mohawk and bad attitude, everyone's favorite former bodyguard, Mr. T would seem a natural as a breakfast treat. Welcome to the wacky world of breakfast cereal. Then there are the prizes. It used to be that cereals came with all manner of prizes, from a decal or a plastic sub, which would alternately dive and rise with a little help from baking soda, to collectible dinosaur coins and plastic figurines. There is no question that people will buy cereal to get to the prizes.
Prizes definitely encourage impulse buying in the cereal aisle.
I think we stand a good chance of seeing a prize renaissance in this decade. Baby boomers loved prizes growing up and will buy prize-inside cereal for their kids. That sense of nostalgia is one of the main ingredients of cereal's success among adults, Ellis said. Not just for the prizes, but for the characters who have hawked them. L.C. Leprechaun and his Lucky Charms, the Silly Rabbit and his Trix, and Cap'n Crunch and his myriad flavors of cereal.