The Monster Cereal Mascot Only '70s Kids Will Remember

The popularity of kids cereals has decreased, but one line in particular continues strong today. In 1971, General Mills launched the Monster Cereals line with Count Chocula and Franken Berry. Boo Berry followed one year later, and there was once a fourth mascot perhaps only '70s kids remember today.

In 1974, Fruit Brute was brought in as a fruit-flavored cereal with a wacky werewolf in striped multicolor overalls who howled "fruuuuuit!" Unlike the first three, Fruit Brute didn't catch on. Sugary breakfast cereals targeted kids with colors and sweetness, and the best pass these characteristics into the milk in the bowl. Monster Cereals do that so well, you'd think they invented flavored milk. This is where Fruit Brute fell short. With its vague "fruit" flavor and lime-flavored marshmallows, kids were left with greenish milk and an unappealing flavor – compared to, say, Count Chocula's chocolate milk.

Fruit Brute was discontinued in 1982, but the cereal was retooled and rebranded as Fruity Yummy Mummy in 1988. Even as the cereal came back with a new name and mascot, it's the Brute that became a cult hero of sorts.

Fruity Yummy Mummy didn't fill the void of Fruit Brute, and kids grew up with one character missing from their morning cereal lineup. One such kid was Quentin Tarantino, who slipped Fruit Brute into both "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs." In 2009, General Mills cemented Fruit Brute's lore by switching Monster Cereals from year-round to seasonal products. Each year at Halloween, they're in a seasonal display, reminding us they've been missing and won't be around for long. This is how today's kids were introduced to Monster Cereals, and as their parents shared cereal stories, such as the Lucky Charms tree promotion, or simply listing favorite cereals that are still around, the loss of Fruit Brute inevitably became part of the story.

Then came 2013, when all five Monster Cereals were available for the first time. Fruity Yummy Mummy stayed the same, and Fruit Brute was rebranded as Frute Brute, a cherry-flavored cereal. In 2021, for the 50th anniversary of the original release of Monster Cereals, a new cereal called Monster Mash was introduced as a mix of all five Monster Cereals.

While Fruit Brute will probably never have the popularity of its friends, it has a permanent place with kids of the '70s, and in nostalgia culture thanks to Quentin Tarantino and the seasonal availability of Monster Cereals. If it weren't for this combination of nostalgia and scarcity, Monster Cereals could've wound up on the list of discontinued and forgotten cereals of our youth.