Apple Jacks Cereal (History, FAQ & Commercials)

Apple Jacks cereal is a crunchy sweet breakfast cereal, though often enjoyed as a mid-day snack as well. Apple Jacks has a memorable name and is distinguished by its orange and green color cereal O’s. Apple Jacks has an apple and cinnamon taste that is appealing with milk.

It is a fairly popular cereal that occasionally comes off with spin-offs to keep the product fresh. Apple Jacks’ cereal is somewhat simple and tame for some, lacking bright colors or powerful blasts of flavor that other cereals may have, but Apple Jacks’s does have a respectable fandom, perhaps for its overall pleasing taste or familiar colors.

History And Information

Apple Jacks cereal is a crunchy three-grain cereal with a distinctive taste and smell, made with apple and cinnamon. In spite of its name, Apple Jacks is often thought not to taste much like apples, and in fact, this was the basis of some commercials for Apple Jacks when advertising its product.

Apple Jacks currently has its default product as O-shaped green and orange cereal pieces, although when Apple Jacks was first made only orange color cereal pieces in the shape of an O were included. Other variations of Apple Jacks’ cereal have been made, such as in December 2003, when Apple Jacks released a spin-off that replaced the green color cereal pieces for blue carrot-shaped ones.

Made by Kellogg’s, Apple Jacks was first called “Apple O’s” when it was first introduced into the United States in 1965. The name of the cereal was changed to “Apple Jacks” in 1971 by advertisers, and the name has stuck since. Apple Jacks was invented by William Thilly, who was studying at MIT when he was hired by Kellogg’s as a research assistant.

William Thilly was the only one to show up for the interview, and the executive he met from Kellogg’s had promised he would bring back someone from MIT, so Thilly was hired for the job. As a reward for his work at the company as a paid intern, William Thilly was invited to create a product and given a partner to help him do so.

William Thilly grew up on an apple farm and felt that apples could go with anything, so he and his partner experimented with things such as applesauce combined with cereal to find a good cereal product. Eventually, they found a dried apple product from California to experiment with and added it to some basic cereal-shaped O’s from a discontinued brand that was available to them, combining it with cinnamon to create the early ancestor of what we now know as Apple Jacks cereal.

Apple Jacks has had a number of changes and spin-offs over the years. Originally Apple Jacks only contained orange-colored cereal bits when first released in 1965, including after its name change in 1971. The green-colored Apple Jack cereal piece that is now known so well was added in 1998, though many adults would not know the change happened as it’s been decades and many adults grew up with green-colored cereal bits alongside the orange.

Apple Jacks cereal also introduced a replacement to the green Apple Jack cereal bits in a spin-off product that included blue carrots as a replacement. Though the box for the blue carrot containing cereal bits was marked to state that it did not taste like carrots. Apple Jacks cereal also included a “glider” spin-off that included blue arrows in addition to the brand’s standard orange and green cereal O pieces.

Apple Jacks with marshmallows was also released, as well as a limited edition spin-off called Apple Jacks ‘Crashers’ released in 2007, which included a change to the shape of the cereal’s O pieces to have a stick-like structure running through them to represent a cinnamon stick of flavor to correspond to an advertisement of a cinnamon stick going through an apple in the commercial for the brand to represent Apple Jacks cinnamon apple flavor slogans.

Apple Jacks’s “clones” was another spin-off created for the brand, released in 2010 as a limited edition. Apple Jacks was sold in Canada in 2012 as a limited edition product there.

Apple Jacks cereal has had many commercials over the years, mostly marketed to kids. One of the first television commercial advertisements for this 60s candy featured its first mascot, Apple Guy, a red apple, advertising “New” Apple Jacks’s cereal as an apple and cinnamon tasting cereal that kept bullies away. Other commercials include several in the 1990’s one that addresses the issue that Apple Jacks does not really taste much like Apples, with kids telling other children and adults that they like Apple Jacks even though it does not taste like Apples, and that they eat what they like.

These commercials highlighted a common phenomenon with Apple Jacks’ cereal in that the taste is hard to describe. An interview with James Beard-nominated pastry chef Cynthia Wong had her state when prompted about the taste of Apple Jacks, “Maybe some cinnamon, some malt syrup. Definitely sugar.” The “We eat what we like’ slogan used to promote Apple Jacks in many commercials has been viewed as a play to the realization that children have influence over family buying decisions, and a nod to parents often just getting kids what they like.

Apple Jacks has had many different mascots over the year, with some being forgettable, and others more memorable. The first Mascot for Apple Jacks was Apple Guy, a red anthropomorphic apple with a face and a hat. Later a Car with cereal pieces for wheels was shown as a mascot on box art depictions for Apple Jacks’ cereal. About 1971 the Apple Jacks kids were introduced as mascots for the brand, a simply designed boy and girl pair.

As of 2004, the mascots for Apple Jacks are the accident-prone apple named Bad Apple and the carefree cinnamon stick named CinnaMon. Both these mascots were slated to be discontinued, but fan support has caused them to remain as mascots. Both the mascots Bad Apple and CinnaMon were fused together temporarily in commercials to advertise a new spin-off product, Apple Jacks Crashers, before becoming unstuck in later commercials.

A trademark filing for Apple Jacks shows the filing date as November 30th, 1965. The party name for this trademark is currently the Kellogg North America Company. The original registrant for the Apple Jacks trademark was the Kellogg Company. The first use in commerce date for that trademark information shows as September 13th, 1965. The first use in commerce date is not always an accurate depiction of the actual first time the product was created or sold. This trademark information may not reflect the name change from Apple O’s to Apple Jacks.

Apple Jacks has been reported by cerealfacts.org (http://cerealfacts.org/media/FACTS-Sheets-pdfs/AppleJacksFACTS.pdf) to be one of the top 4 most heavily marketed cereals in supermarkets, similar to its close counterpart Froot Loops. Apple Jacks continues to be a popular cereal, both as a breakfast food and as a snack. While Apple Jacks is not quite as colorful or as exciting as the louder flavors and brighter colors that other cereals have to offer, it remains a popular product, with a strong fan following.

Original Name

Apple Jacks was not always had called Apple Jacks. When originally made in 1965, Apple Jacks was first called “Apple O’s”. The product was later renamed Apple Jacks in what seems to be a marketing decision in the year 1971.

The Company That Makes Apple Jacks Cereal

The company that makes Apple Jacks cereal is Kellogg’s. Kellogg’s is an American-based multinational food-manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kellogg’s is responsible for the production of many types of cereals and snacks. Some other products The Kellogg Company owns are Froot Loops, Cheez-it, and Pringles. Kellogg’s products are made in 18 countries and are marketed in over 180 countries worldwide.

The Year Apple Jacks Cereal Was Invented

Apple Jacks Cereal was invented in 1965 in the United States Of America. It was the result of various ingredients and apples being used to experiment until a good cereal product was created. Trademark information reads that the first use in commerce date for Apple Jacks was September 13th, 1965. The first use in commerce date is not always reflective of the actual first time the product was made or sold. The trademark information may not reflect the name change from Apple O’s to Apple Jacks.

The Inventor Of Apple Jacks Cereal

Apple Jacks Cereal was invented by a man named William Thilly. He first was hired as a research assistant by Kellogg’s and eventually was given the opportunity to make his own product. William Thilly grew up on an apple farm and that helped inspire him to use apple as a primary ingredient for cereal and experiment until he found got the cereal just right. He called his invention “Apple O’s” before the cereal was renamed to Apple Jacks later on.

Slogans

The most well-known slogan for Apple Jacks Cereal is “We eat what we like”. This refers to how the commercials for Apple Jacks would often depict parents as “just not understanding kids”. The parents would try to understand why kids liked Apple Jacks, with the answer being “They just liked it” and the kids saying “We eat what we like”.

Another slogan for Apple Jacks that has sometimes been referenced is “A is for Apple, J is for Jacks”. The term was used in at least one commercial for Apple Jacks and the saying apparently has stuck. A song in the commercial would state “A is for apple, J is for Jacks” as a part of the singalong to promote the cereal to kids and parents. Another slogan used for the cereal was “it doesn’t taste like apples!”

How To Buy

Apple Jacks is a commonly found cereal, and be located in many traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Apple Jacks cereal has been sold in many grocery stores and department stores such as ShopRite and Walmart.

You can sometimes find special varieties of Apple Jacks on sale at stores, though they are not as easily found as the original version. Sometimes if your looking for a harder-to-find edition of Apple Jacks Cereal you may not be able to locate it in the stores around you, although you may be able to buy them online.

You can buy Apple Jacks online and have it shipped to you via various online sellers if you can’t find what you’re looking for nearby. Buying a large number of Apple Jacks’ boxes in bulk may be more economical online than if bought in stores by the individual box. You can see a list of stores that may sell Apple Jacks below, and can also see offers below from online sellers if you wish to purchase the cereal online and have it shipped.

Stores That Sell Apple Jacks Cereal

Here is a list of some stores that may sell Apple Jacks Cereals

1. Walmart
2. Fishers Foods
3. Walgreen’s
4. Dollar General
5. Target
6. ShopRite
7. FoodTown
8. City Market
9. Rite Aid

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Buy Online

Types, Flavors, And Spin-offs

• Apple Jacks With Marshmallows: This version includes white marshmallows. Another version of Apple Jacks Marshmallows included a Halloween candy limited edition that allowed you to build your own skeleton by putting together various marshmallow pieces. A partner version of the “build your own marshmallow skeleton” style of the Apple Jacks cereal was also released by the Froot Loops cereal brand.
• Apples Jacks With Blue Carrots Shapes: This version only included orange colored cereal loops and replaced the green cereal loops with cereal pieces that looked like blue carrots. This version of the cereal was marketed as having the same “Jacks Taste” and as not having an apple or carrot taste.
• Apple Jacks Gliders: A limited edition version of the cereal, Apple Jacks Gliders features an additional color and shape to the original version of the cereal. Blue triangles were added and joined both the green and orange colored cereal pieces the normal version has.
• Jack O Lantern Apple Jacks: This variant included Jack O Lantern shaped pieces of cereal that were orange in color. The new Jack O Lantern shaped cereal pieces replaced the normal orange color circular cereal loops present in Apple Jacks.
• Apple Jacks With Spooky Marshmallows: This version was a limited Halloween edition of the cereal that marshmallows in the shape of ghosts, bats, and Frankenstein monster heads.
• Apple Jacks Cereal Straws: This spin-off features cereal-like straws that you could dip into milk and sip. The straws were edible and could be eaten dry or with milk.
• Clones: Apple Clones are a limited edition of Apple Jacks that include red triangle cereal pieces in addition to the normal typical green and orange pieces.
• Racing Apple Jacks: Racing Apple Jacks are a edition of Apple Jacks that have yellow and red pieces of cereal and red and blue pieces of cereal. This edition does not contain any green cereal pieces.

Does Apple Jacks Have Apples In Them?

Because Apple Jacks Cereal does not really taste like apples, people often wonder if Apple Jacks actually contains apples at all. The answer is yes, as surprising as it may seem to some, Apple Jacks does in fact contain apples. The cereal does not of course stick fresh apple slices in it, although that would be excellent, it does contain dried apples and apple juice concentrate.

While this might not sound thrilling or exciting, it is nice to know that some apple ingredients are in the cereal, regardless of the cereal actually tastes like apples or not. (Not that people seem to care that it doesn’t) You can read more about the ingredients in Apple Jacks if you’re curious by checking further down the page.

Marketing

Apple Jacks was first marketed as a healthy breakfast option during the 1960s. Commercials were used to convey a healthy image. These advertisements were targeting the parents of grade school children.

The cereal first featured a mascot named ” Apple guy,” This changed in the 1970s, as the mascot became “The Apple Jacks Kids,” who are most known for the jingle,” “A is for apple, J is for Jacks, Cinnamon-toasty Apple Jacks!” During the 1990s, Apple Jacks cereal rebranded itself. The commercials featured the phrase, “We eat what we like,” completely disregarding the idea of health. These commercials were targeted directly to grade school children.

The mascots changed again in 2004. The commercials now focused on the relationship between a jolly Jamaican cinnamon stick, “CinnaMon,” and a sinister apple, “Bad Apple.” In the advertisements, CinnaMon and Bad Apple race to a bowl of Apple Jacks. CinnaMon always wins, causing his competitor to attempt to stop him. As the advertisements progressed, so did the relationship between CinnaMon and Bad Apple.

Pictures

Commercials

Here are some commercials about Apple Jacks To watch:

1994 COMMERCIAL FOR KELLOGG’S APPLE JACKS CEREAL.

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APPLE JACKS CEREAL COMMERCIAL FROM 1988.

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VINTAGE 1960’S TV COMMERCIAL FOR APPLE JACKS CEREAL.

Mascots

Apple Jacks Cereal has had a number of different mascots over the years helping to promote the brand. The first Mascot to appear for the Apple Jacks brand was called “Apple Guy”. Apple guy was an anthropomorphic red apple who was always smiling and happy looking.

Apple Guy had a brown hat and a striped bow tie. The next mascot to appear for the brand was a simple car shown on the box art for apple jacks, but this car was a mascot complete with cereal pieces in place of normal wheels. The next mascot for the brand was the Apple Jacks Kids, which depicted a boy and girl who were simply drawn and happy looking. The Apple Jacks Kids were introduced circa 1971.

The most current mascots for Apple Jacks Cereal as of 2019 are Bad Apple and CinnaMon. Introduced around 2004, Bad Apple is an apple with arms and legs and CinnaMon is a walking and talking cinnamon stick. Bad Apple is presented as having an overly-excited nature, and CinnaMon is depicted as being very fast.

The 2 mascots often compete with each other to see who can reach a bowl of Apple Jacks’ cereal first, with Bad Apple often finding his plans foiled by the faster CinnaMon. Bad Apple and CinnaMon were fused together temporarily in order to create a hybrid of the 2, and the resulting shape could be found as actual cereal pieces in boxes of Apple Jacks.

Childhood Experiences

Apple Jacks takes me way back to when I was a young girl, eating with my sister and talking before school. I never ate breakfast at school when I was a child. it was simply too far and we could not have enough time to eat. Our mom would give us breakfast cereals to eat before school. My sister and I would eat that cereal and it would just be a good start to our morning. It’s nice to see that the cereal is still being made all these years later and me and now my children get to enjoy it together.

Apple Jacks Vs Froot Loops

There are a few kinds of cereal that provoke nostalgia like Apple Jacks and Froot Loops. And while both are very different from one another, being made by the same company and looking alike in shape has caused them to be compared frequently. Apple Jacks brings cinnamon to the table of flavors, and Froot Loops brings a more fruity taste to our bowls.

You got to give it to Froot Loops, it just dazzles the eye more than Apple Jacks does, the colors in that cereal will brighten up anyone’s day. Apple Jacks cereal is a bit more subtle in its advantage, it has a sweet, yet gentle taste, cinnamon coated and scrumptious. You can decide what cereal is the better of the two, but it is clear that both kinds of cereal really do hold a special place in people’s hearts, a fondness often developed in childhood and refined into adulthood.

Review

This review is for the original Apple Jacks Cereal

Apple Jacks Cereal’s green packaging stands out before anything else. It does not send the message of apples, but it does the marketing must-have done its job because I can tell it is an Apple Jacks brand product just from the color on the packaging. Sprite has managed to do the same thing with its green color, something that was carefully chosen.

The first thing to hit you when eating Apple Jacks is its smell, it is hard to describe, but it is memorable and you can recognize it almost anywhere if you have tried the cereal before. The taste of Apple Jacks is similarly hard to describe, but it’s not one of the apples. What it does taste like, is sugar, sugar, and deep undertones of cinnamon. The cereal is quite good and I wanted a second bowl afterward. Of course, I can’t help but compare Apple Jacks to Fruit Loops, even if it is like comparing apples to oranges (Pun intended?).

Product Recalls

In 2010, The Kellogg Company issued a product recall for Apple Jacks and some of its other cereal brands. Some reports claim that a stale smell could be detected from some customers’ cereals and a few people also claimed to get nauseated. This recall was for Apple Jacks cereal 17-ounce packages dated between April 10, 2011, and Jun 22, 2011, and 8.7-ounce packages dated between Jun 3, 2011, and Jun 22, 2011.

Packaging

Apple Jacks Cereal’s packaging is green in color. The box has a picture of a bowl of Apple Jacks’ cereal in it with milk splashing out of the bowl as if cereal was just poured into the bowl. Apple Jacks cereal sometimes has depictions of its mascots on the box. Close to the center of the box the words “Apple Jacks” appear in large print. “Sweetened cereal with Apple & Cinnamon” is printed on the box.

Other versions of Apple Jacks, such as Apple Jacks with Marshmallows, have a similar packaging style but have the bottom center of the box colored blue. with a picture of the Mascots in the cereal bowl, and depictions of marshmallows flying around. The Apple Jacks Caramel edition of the cereal has a tan or brown colored box, and the word “Caramel” written on the box looks like it is dripping caramel. This edition of the box has the words “Apple Jacks” written above the word Caramel and is close to the center of the box, the words “Kellogg’s” are near the top of the box, above the name of the cereal.

Ingredients

The following information is for a 29 Grams serving of original Apple Jacks Cereal with no milk.

• Corn flour blend (whole grain yellow corn flour, degerminated yellow corn flour)
• Sugar
• Wheat flour
• Whole grain oat flour
• Modified food starch
• Contains 2% or less of vegetable oil (hydrogenated coconut, soybean and/or cottonseed), oat fiber, salt, soluble corn fiber, degerminated yellow corn flour, dried apples, apple juice concentrate, cornstarch, cinnamon, natural flavor, modified corn starch, yellow 6, wheat starch, baking soda, yellow 5, red 40, blue 1.Vitamins and Minerals: Reduced iron, niacinamide, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride), folic acid, vitamin D3, vitamin B12

Known Potential Allergens: Wheat, May Contain Soy.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	29g	% Daily Value *
Calories per serving	110
Calories from Fat	10
Total Fat	1g	2%
Saturated Fat	0.5g	3%
Trans Fat	0g	0%
Polyunsaturated Fat	0g
Monounsaturated Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	150mg	6%
Potassium	45mg	1%
Total Carbohydrate	25g	8%
Dietary Fiber	3g	12%
Sugars	10g
Protein	2g
Vitamin A		10 %
Vitamin C		25%
Calcium		0%
Iron		25%
Vitamin D		10%
Thiamine		25%
Niacin		25%
Folic Acid		25%
Vitamin B12		25%
Zinc		10%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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