Trix (cereal)

File:Old Trix Box.jpg

An earlier Trix Box

Trix is a brand of breakfast cereal made by General Mills. The cereal consists of fruit-flavored, sweetened, ground-corn pieces. These were originally round cereal pieces, but were later changed to puffed fruit-shaped pieces. As of December 2006, Trix is again available with round cereal pieces and a box advertising this "new" shape.

Overview

Trix cereal was first marketed in 1954. The original character on the Trix box from 1960 to 1963 was a stick figure flamingo. In August 1967, on a request of the copy supervisor of General Mills ad agency to come up with an identity for the brand, Joe Harris created the Trix Rabbit, an anthropomorphic cartoon rabbit character; in Trix animated television commercials, this rabbit (voiced by Delo States and later Russell Horton[1]) would keep trying to trick kids into giving him a bowl of Trix cereal, but he would be discovered every time, and the kids would say, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." After the success of the first commercial, the Trix brand soon became one of General Mills' best sellers. Much like Warner Brothers' Wile E. Coyote, the Trix Rabbit's constant struggle to obtain the unobtainable elicits a degree of sympathy from many viewers. Little did Harris know that what began as a simple marketing ploy became a revolution in how cereal was marketed.

General Mills' Yoplait division produces a Trix-branded yogurt also marketed to children with sweetened fruit flavors such as "Watermelon Burst"

Ad campaigns

The earliest known successful attempt of the Trix Rabbit to obtain the cereal was in 1969. A national vote was held with ballots distributed on the back of Trix boxes, allowing kids to vote on whether to let the Trix Rabbit have some Trix. According to this campaign, he had already consumed two spoonfuls before the kids caught him. Nonetheless, it continued to be part of the advertising that the Trix Rabbit never had Trix. In two commercials he successfully tricked the children again into giving him Trix, but they were apparently cross about it.

In the 1980s, one of Trix's television ads ended in a cliffhanger accompanied by a write-in survey asking children whether the Trix Rabbit should be able to finally get a taste of Trix. America's children responded with an overwhelming "yes," and a subsequent television ad depicted the rabbit finally getting to eat a bowl of Trix cereal. While he is known to have previously enjoyed a bowl in 1976, following this public intervention in 1980 he has not succeeded in gaining access to Trix's fruity goodness again, and anti-bunny sentiment persists within the animated juvenile community.

Generally, the commercials begin with the rabbit having successfully managed to snatch the cereal, only to have the kids confuse him long enough for them to snatch it back. In some commercials, the rabbit successfully gets the cereal and makes a getaway, leaving the kids to ask the watcher for help.

In a Got Milk? commercial ad, the rabbit is disguised as a man (played by Harland Williams) in a supermarket. He buys a box of Trix, and the cashier says to him, "Trix? Trix are for kids." The rabbit returns to his home mumbling the phrase "Trix are for kids". Excited, he pours himself a bowl, yelling "Today, they're for rabbits!" and laughing maniacally, but when he is about to add milk, he discovers there's no milk left in the carton. The commercial ends with the Got Milk? screen.

In a Nintendo DS Chair commercial on television, the Trix rabbit is sitting in a Nintendo DS Chair, about to open a box of Trix, but a pesky kid comes up, holding a DS, and boots him out of the chair, along with stealing his box of Trix cereal. He then states, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!".

In 2006, the phrase "Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids" ended up #59 on TVland's 100 greatest quotes and catch phrases.

Stages of Innovation

In 1992 Trix replaced the original round ball shape with fruit-shaped pieces. Four new fruit shapes and colors were added over the years: Grapity purple (1980-1995), Lime green (1991), Wildberry blue (1998-2006), and Watermelon (1999). In 1995, the cereal pieces were given a brighter and more colorful look. However, that the different "fruits" in the cereal between 1992 and 2006 all share the same flavor. Recently in 2007 Trix has replaced their fruit shaped pieces with the original round ball shape.

In popular culture

• The phrase "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!" has appeared in numerous pop-culture references, including those made by musicians Sonic Youth, Kix, Public Enemy, Fresh Prince, and the Insane Clown Posse, as well as television and film productions such as The Simpsons, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Golden Girls, Kill Bill Volume 1, Robot Chicken and Family Guy. Also, as stated above, the Trix Rabbit's consistent defeat in his attempts to eat the cereal have earned him a degree of sympathy from viewers.

• In the Insane Clown Posse song entitled "House of Horrors" from the album The Great Milenko, Violent J states "I killed Tony, Lucky Charms, and the Silly Rabbit".

• In "The Powerpuff Girls", the slogan for "Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets" cereal (whose animated spokesman is an amalgamation of several children's cereal mascots) is "Ridiculous Lucky Captain Rabbit King, Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets are for the youth!"

• Rapper Snoop Dogg's song 'Real Talk' features the line "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

• In the song "Hive" from 311's 1995 self-titled album, S.A. Martinez says, "You think I'm a silly rabbit cuz my style has tricks/Trix."

• In an episode of Family Guy, there was an asian trix commercial where the child states "Silly rabbit, Trix are for Kids!", then the asian rabbit yells "You share!", and knocks two of the kids out, kills the third, and takes the Trix.

• In the song "Cattle & the Creeping Things" by "The Hold Steady" the line "Silly rabbit, tripping is for teenagers" is a reference to the line in the Trix cereal ads

External links

• Official page