Quisp and Quake are two sugar-sweetened breakfast cereals from The Quaker Oats Company.
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History
Quisp and Quake were originally released in 1965 in the United States by The Quaker Oats Company and generally advertised together (during the same commercial) as products competing against each other. The very successful ads were cartoons created by Jay Ward of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame, and used some of the same voices, including Daws Butler as the voice of Quisp (an alien) and William Conrad as the voice of Quake (a miner).[citation needed]
In 1970, a contest was held by Quaker Oats to see which of the two cereals was more popular. Two years later, Quisp was announced as the winner, and Quaker Oats began running a series of commercials on which a Quaker Oats spokesman asked children to vote "yes" to keep Quake on the market or "no" to let him go. The "nos" had it, and Quake retreated underground. Quake, the cartoon character, reappeared in a new orange-flavored cereal called Quangaroos, where he obtained an orange kangaroo named Simon, as well as putting his mining helmet down in favor of an Aussie motif.[citation needed]
In the late-1970s, Quisp was removed from grocery stores due to low sales. It re-emerged in the mid-1980s, and finally was re-introduced in the 1990s as the "first Internet cereal" and is still in limited distribution.[citation needed]
Starting in early March 2008, many Dollar General Stores (especially in, but not limited to, OH, PA, WV, and much of the Northeast US) began selling Quisp (as well as other classics such as King Vitaman, Crunchy Corn Bran, and Honey Graham Oh's).[citation needed]. They sold them for a very limited time. They are no longer selling these. Quisp is available at Marc's in Ohio. As of the summer of 2009, The Quaker Oats Company is selling Quisp directly to the public through an on-line store [1].
In April 2008, cable access personality and entertainer Quincy Brisco appeared on the local Boston radio program The Toucher and Rich Show on WBCN 104.1FM, revealing his affection for the cereal via a trivia question posed to the show's crew. Since this appearance, the isolated sound clip of Brisco's enthusiastic "Quisp!" exclamation has become a staple in the program's reference lexicon. With this, Quincy Brisco has become synonymous with the product, and arguably is responsible for the resurgance in Quisp's popularity, renewing interest in the products place in the pop culture lexicon, particularly in the Boston area.
The Internet cartoon
In 2001, an online flash cartoon was produced by John Kricfalusi and Spümcø, featuring Quisp and his sidekick Quunchy[1] (voiced by Corey Burton and Matt Danner, respectively).[citation needed]
The Quisp formula was briefly reintroduced as "Mr T" cereal when the A-Team was popular and then again as a Quaker bag cereal.[citation needed]
Description
Quisp is a saucer-shaped, baked paste of corn meal and syrup, identical in overall taste to its sister brand Cap'n Crunch but with softer texture. Quake cereal was produced by the same process and ingredients, but shaped like gears.[citation needed]
Quaker also offers a saucer-shaped cereal of identical ingredients in their Bagged Cereals line under the name Sweet Crunch. This cereal line is also in limited distribution.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Quisp Lives!", Promo Magazine, Jun 1, 2001
External links
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