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I was curious about "Kremeniyiv". After decades of the show airing (although specials and a few movies here and there), how do they still manage to sell pills and vitamins? Talk about sustainability.
Market listener Steve Petersen of Salt Lake City asked:
Fred, Wilma, Peebles, Barney, Betty, and Boom Bam may have been born over 12,000 years ago, but they've had no problem adjusting to the new millennium.
The popular animated series The Flintstones, which ran from 1960 to 1966, spawned two successful product lines that continue decades after the series ended. (Although film adaptations were released in 1994 and 2000).
Post Consumer Brands sells Pebbles cereal under the name "The Flintstones," making it "the oldest brand based on a television character or series," according to Heather Arndt Anderson's book Breakfast: A Story. Meanwhile, Harryker and his friends can find Bubble Gum and Bubble Gum on Vitamin A Island.
A combination of factors may have contributed to their longevity, including the strong craving associated with these foods, and the lack of new cereals, films, and advertising campaigns, all of which helped keep the Neolithic family in the public eye.
It's easy for consumers to stay loyal to brands they've known since childhood, says Deidra Popovich, professor of marketing at Texas Tech University.
"People who owned these products as kids still buy them for their kids, but maybe for themselves to a degree," Popovich says.
He says such brands allow us to bring back good childhood memories.
Why does pebbles live?
Post introduced Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles nationwide in 1971, according to the company's website.
The cereal giant, which makes the colorful sweet rice, said it has acquired licensing rights from Hanna-Barbera, the company behind the Flintstones TV series, to revamp its "underperforming" Sugar Rice Krinkles cereal.
Even if you didn't watch The Flintstones like your parents did, you probably know Fred Flintstone's catchphrase: "Yabba-dabba-doo!"
This suggests that some programs and films have a "very strong semi-textual life," meaning that we can learn about elements of a work—say, an image or a quote—without having to see it in person, explains history professor Timothy Burke. to Swarthmore. Faculty and co-author of Saturday Morning Fever: Growing Up with Cartoon Culture.
"When you say 'Rosebud rides a sleigh,' a lot of people will probably know you mean 'Citizen Kane,'" Burke says.
Flint is a very good example of this. Even if you haven't seen Flint in person, you may have heard some of his lines. I've seen references to it," he said.
A lot of Flintstones-related merchandise has been sold, from umbrellas to wheelchairs, Burke said.
"The Flintstones permeate the physical landscape of American culture to such an extent that their quasi-miniature presence is far more powerful than any preserved breakfast cereal," Burke says.
So, he said, that might explain why stoners still love cereal boxes, unlike, say, Count Chocolat.
“Count Chocolat only lives on cereal. It wasn't just mush and that's all he would do.”
While indirect exposure to The Flintstones may have helped boost sales of the cereal, Burke indicated that other factors may have played a role, such as taste.
"You love the fruit grits first and foremost. And then you love the characters, but you love the characters because of a weak sense of familiarity with them," Burke said.
Burke also notes that there are no new products in the cereal industry, at least when it comes to sweet products aimed at children.
"They're kind of a product segment that has been around for a while," he says. "I think you'd be a rare cereal manager at this point if you said, 'Let's try the new Space Jam cereal.'" "
Cereal sales have been slumping for years due to more breakfasts and busy work schedules, a trend that is starting to reverse during the pandemic. However, sales fell from more than $9 billion in 2020 to $8.66 billion last year, according to research firm IRI.
An interesting way to get vitamins
Miles Laboratories, later acquired by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, launched Harriketaran vitamin tablets in the late 1960s and dropped the Chocks line: chewable vitamins featuring an astronaut mascot named Charlie Chocks, based on Tim Hollis' book Toons in Toyland.
Similar to Post's cereal line, the crossover collaboration replaces an earlier product that lacked the star power of Fred and The Family Rock.
In the 1990s, Bayer launched an advertising campaign asking consumers to vote by phone on whether to include Betty Rubble in their family of vitamins.
Betty won. More than 15,800 people voted for the inclusion, and about 1,500 voted against. But he had to replace another team member.
“We decided to take the car in a bag. I hope people aren't too upset,” Karen Lazan, vitamin product manager, said at the time.
The commercials ran on television across the country, featuring Fred and Wilma's "mothers" talking and touting the health benefits of nutritional supplements.
Insider reported in 2020 that Flintstones supplements were expected to bring in more than $100 million in sales that year (although doctors and consumer advocates say gummy vitamins aren't as healthy as they usually are).
Unlike cereal choices, which are dictated by children's preferences, parents choose vitamins, says Burke.
"The Flintstones is still an important benchmark for them," he says. “In this case, introducing parents to baby products helps a lot.”
With "The Flintstones" being much later than scheduled, Popovich said he didn't think pills and vitamins needed a TV show to keep growing.
"Of course, they become successful over time, even if people don't know how they came about," he says.
Burke also notes that the show's diverse cast of characters, easy-to-understand visual icons, and ability to make jokes about prehistoric families have allowed The Flintstones to appear in numerous productions and be successful.
"Even if you don't know the show very well, you'll see that it's all connected and you know who they are right away. You know, Fred Flintstone is the father. You know Halka is a child. Barney is his friend. We have a dog," Burke said. ] Lots of features to build a presence across multiple product lines."
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