Apple Jacks
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Kellogg's Apple Jacks – Sweetened Cereal with Apple & Cinnamon, with milk | |
| Product type | Breakfast cereal |
|---|---|
| Owner | WK Kellogg Co (US, Canada, Caribbean) Kellanova (rest of world) |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1965 |
| Previous owners | Kellogg Company (1965–2024) |
| Website | kelloggs.com/applejacks |
Apple Jacks is an American brand of breakfast cereal that is produced by both successors to the original Kellogg's—WK Kellogg Co in the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and Kellanova in the rest of the world. It was introduced to the U.S. as "Apple O's" in 1965 after being invented by college intern William Thilly.[1] In 1971 the name "Apple Jacks" was put into action by advertisers. The product is described by Kellogg's as a "crunchy, sweetened multi-grain cereal with apple and cinnamon." Apple Jacks is one of the top four cereal brands marketed within stores and is most heavily marketed on Kellogg's internet platform.[2]
Originally, the Apple Jacks were only orange and O-shaped, until 1998 when the green O-shapes were added to the cereals.[3] In a marketing promotion in December 2003, the green pieces changed their shape to X's for a few months. More recently, Apple Jacks has introduced New Apple Jacks "Crashers" – a unique cereal piece that replicates a mid-2007 advertising campaign when mascots Apple and CinnaMon were accidentally fused together.[4] The latest (limited) edition, in 2010, are Apple Clones, with red pieces shaped like apples.
In 2001, Apple Jacks was brought to Canada in a Limited Edition box.[5]
Apple Jacks were later released in Australia and can be found at Woolworths Supermarkets and Aldi, alongside Kellogg's Australia's Apple Jacks LCMs, a puffed rice snack bar with marshmallow flavour and Apple Jacks flavoured sprinkles.
Advertising
[edit]The first Apple Jacks mascot in the 1960s was "Apple Jack", a figure made from cutting a mouth onto an apple and applying a hat and pieces of cereal for eyes.[citation needed]
Television advertisements featuring Apple Jack had the tagline “A bowl a day keeps the bullies away!”, but was later altered to “A bowl a day gives you energy to play!”.[citation needed]
In the late 1960s the box depicted an "Apple Car" with pieces of cereal for wheels.[citation needed]
Around 1971, the official mascots became "The Apple Jacks Kids", a simplistically drawn animated boy and girl. The commercials featured the children singing and tumbling around all day. Their reign lasted for 21 years, making them the most well-known Apple Jacks mascots and most universally associated with the cereal in the public's memory. During this time, the Apple Jacks jingle became an integral part of the ad campaign: "A is for apple, J is for Jacks, Cinnamon-toasty Apple Jacks!" This campaign was retired in 1992.[citation needed]
Starting in 1992, there was an advertising campaign that featured children expressing their enjoyment of Apple Jacks, regardless of its lack of apple flavor. The slogan for this campaign became "We eat what we like". The shift toward marketing cereals directly at children signaled the growing recognition of children's influence on family purchases. The commercials took place in normal kid hang-outs, such as: at school, the garage, ballet class, and the kitchen, in the hall/hallway/door jamb, among others. In each commercial, a group of children are having Apple Jacks, when suddenly, some other people, such as adults or jealous kids, bash the group claiming it does not taste like apples and asks why they love it so much. The group then explains their love of the cereal usually by just saying, "We just do", and at the end of the commercial, would pose for a group Polaroid.[6]
As of 2004, the marketing mascots were a carefree Jamaican cinnamon stick named CinnaMon and an accident-prone apple named Bad Apple. Labeled as Apple Jacks Adventures in print advertising, the commercials focused on CinnaMon upstaging Bad Apple by reaching a bowl of Apple Jacks before he can, in spite of the apple's attempts to stop him. Bad Apple's antagonistic nature was later dropped due to complaints from non-profit health food organizations such as Center for Science in the Public Interest over the campaign discouraging children from eating fruit by antagonizing the Apple character, leading to Apple and CinnaMon being portrayed as highly competitive friends, both getting into the bowl. The campaign was slated to be retired in 2007, and replaced by a retread of the 1990s campaign focused on children, but fan response to Apple and CinnaMon helped them remain as the mascots.[7] In 2007, Apple and CinnaMon were fused together with CinnaMon sticking through the center of Apple with both of their legs at the bottom of their body. They remained this way for a few of the commercials until they became unstuck by a special machine.
Nutrition
[edit]According to the label on the box, in 2010, each 28 gram serving had 100 calories, three grams of dietary fiber, and 12 grams of sugar.[8][9]
Cinnamon Jacks
[edit]In 2013, Kellogg's Apple Jacks introduced a new multi-grain cereal called "Cinnamon Jacks", with the cinnamon stick, CinnaMon, as its sole mascot.[10] The cereal is flavored with brown sugar and cinnamon.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Stephanie Burt (February 7, 2018). "The Kellogg's Intern Who Created Apple Jacks". Extra Crispy. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2020. Tilly was then a student at MIT and became a professor there in 1972, a position he still held as of "August 4, 2020"..
- ^ "Apple Jacks Facts" (PDF). Cerealfacts.org. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Apple Jacks History". May 16, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Apple Jacks Crashers Cereal". Mrbreakfast.com. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Apple Jacks Cereal - 10.1oz". CandyFunhouse.ca. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Apple Jacks Case Study | PDF | Advertising". Scribd.com. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Kellogg's Bad Apple Cartoon Causes Food Fights". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "SmartLabel". smartlabel.kelloggs.com. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ "Apple Jacks Ingredients". www.applejacks.com. Kellogg's. November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ "Cinnamon Jacks Cereal". Mrbreakfast.com. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
External links
[edit]Apple Jacks
View on GrokipediaHistory
Introduction and early years
Apple Jacks cereal was invented in 1965 by William Thilly, then an undergraduate intern at Kellogg's, during a summer experiment in the company's research labs. Drawing from his upbringing on an apple farm, Thilly developed the product after a mishap with a liquid cheese experiment, repurposing leftover O-shaped cereal pieces from a discontinued line and flavoring them with dried apple products and cinnamon to create a sweetened, fruit-inspired breakfast option.[5][6] The cereal launched that same year under the name Apple O's, featuring loop-shaped pieces made from corn and oat flours, positioned as a crunchy, sweetened alternative for children seeking variety in morning routines.[1] Despite containing only minimal actual apple in the form of dried components, early promotions highlighted its apple flavor profile to appeal to young consumers tired of plain or less exciting cereals.[5] Apple O's entered a growing market for flavored breakfast cereals, competing directly with Kellogg's own Froot Loops, which had debuted two years earlier in 1963 as a multicolored, fruit-inspired loop cereal. This positioning helped the new product carve out a niche among kid-oriented options, contributing to its steady rise in popularity through the late 1960s. In 1971, the name was changed to Apple Jacks to better reflect its dual apple-cinnamon identity.[1]Name changes and reformulations
In 1971, Kellogg's rebranded the cereal from its original name, Apple O's, to Apple Jacks, a change initiated by company advertisers to create a more playful and energetic brand identity.[7] The new name aimed to suggest fun and adventure, drawing loosely on the energetic connotation of "jacks" without direct reference to the game, while maintaining the core apple and cinnamon flavor profile.[8] Originally, all Apple Jacks pieces were uniform orange loops shaped like the letter O, reflecting a simple visual tie to the apple theme. In 1998, Kellogg's introduced green O-shaped pieces alongside the orange ones to enhance visual appeal and better evoke the colors of various apple varieties.[7] This dual-color design has remained a staple, though temporary variations occurred, such as green pieces shaped like X's in a 2003 marketing promotion.[8] Apple Jacks has undergone several reformulations to align with evolving nutritional trends. From its 1971 launch, it was positioned as a multi-grain cereal incorporating corn, wheat, and oats, with whole grain elements like oat flour contributing to its texture and claims.[3] In July 2009, Kellogg's enhanced the formula by adding fiber, increasing it to 3 grams per serving through ingredients such as whole-grain corn and oat flours, in response to growing consumer demand for healthier breakfast options. Around the same period, in 2008, the company reduced sugar content in Apple Jacks and similar children's cereals to address criticisms of high sweetness, while preserving the overall taste through balanced flavor adjustments.[9] Over time, the flavor profile of Apple Jacks has emphasized cinnamon as the primary taste sensation rather than apple, a shift highlighted in marketing campaigns as early as the 2000s. Advertisements explicitly noted that "Apple Jacks don't taste like apples," underscoring the dominant cinnamon note derived from natural flavors and dried apple pieces, which provide subtle fruit undertones amid the sweetness.[10] This cinnamon-forward evolution, without major alterations to the core recipe in the 2010s, has helped maintain its appeal as a spiced, crunchy cereal.[7]Product characteristics
Description and ingredients
Apple Jacks is a crunchy, sweetened multi-grain breakfast cereal featuring small O-shaped loops in distinctive orange and green colors, made from a toasted corn base.[https://www.wkkellogg.com/products/apple-jacks-original] The loops measure roughly 1 cm in diameter and emit a characteristic artificial apple-cinnamon aroma upon opening the package.[https://www.snackhistory.com/apple-jacks-cereal/] Originally introduced with only orange pieces, green O-shapes were added in 1998 to enhance visual appeal.[https://xtalks.com/kelloggs-partners-with-nickelodeon-on-new-apple-jacks-flavor-3146/] The flavor profile emphasizes a sweet cinnamon taste with subtle apple undertones, achieved through natural flavors, cinnamon, dried apples, and apple juice concentrate; despite the product's name, it does not contain significant real apple fruit and is often noted for its dominant cinnamon sweetness over authentic apple essence.[https://www.wkkellogg.com/products/apple-jacks-original][10] As of 2025, the U.S. formulation of Apple Jacks includes the following ingredients: Corn flour blend (whole grain yellow corn flour, degerminated yellow corn flour), sugar, wheat flour, whole grain oat flour, modified food starch, 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, vitamin B2, vitamin B1, folic acid, vitamin D3, vitamin B12; BHT added to packaging.[https://www.wkkellogg.com/products/apple-jacks-original] The cereal is manufactured via an extrusion process, where a blend of corn and oat flours is mixed with other dry ingredients, cooked under heat and pressure to form a dough, extruded through dies to create the loop shapes, dried, coated with sugar and flavors, and finally toasted or baked to achieve crispiness.[https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/article/2515/extrusion-of-cereals/]Nutritional profile
A standard serving of Apple Jacks cereal is defined as 1 1/3 cups (39 g), delivering 150 calories from the cereal alone or a total of 210 calories when combined with 3/4 cup of skim milk.[11] The macronutrient composition per 39 g serving includes total fat at 1.5 g (2% Daily Value, DV), saturated fat at 0.5 g (3% DV), no trans fats, total carbohydrates at 34 g (12% DV), dietary fiber at 3 g (12% DV), total sugars at 13 g (of which 13 g are added sugars, representing 26% DV), and protein at 2 g.[11][12]| Nutrient | Amount per 39 g Serving | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 150 | - |
| Total Fat | 1.5 g | 2% |
| Saturated Fat | 0.5 g | 3% |
| Trans Fat | 0 g | - |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 210 mg | 9% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 34 g | 12% |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g | 12% |
| Total Sugars | 13 g | - |
| Added Sugars | 13 g | 26% |
| Protein | 2 g | - |
