Cookie Crisp

Cookie Crisp launched in 1977, born from Ralston Purina's audacious pitch: why settle for cookies after breakfast when you could have them for breakfast? The first mascot, Cookie Jarvis the wizard, literally magicked cookie jars into cereal bowls. The thieving Cookie Crook arrived in 1980, and his perpetual nemesis—the Cookie Cop, Officer Crumb—came after him in 1984.

The 90s rewrote the script. In 1990, the Crook got a sidekick: Chip the Dog, whose one flaw was blowing every heist by howling "Cooooookie Crisp!" in a drawn-out, hilariously unstoppable wail. That howl ran in the ads from 1990 to 1996, Officer Crumb foiling every scheme, and a generation of kids spent Saturday mornings imitating it. Ralston sold the trademark to General Mills in 1997, and in 2005 Chip was redesigned into Chip the Wolf, the cookie thief who still fronts the box today.

The cereal itself never changed much—just chocolate chip clusters staying stubbornly crispy through milk, the appeal uncomplicated. Internationally, Nestlé took over distribution through Cereal Partners Worldwide, widening the footprint. The Crook and the Cop quietly retired from the ads, but the howl? That stayed lodged in the brain of everyone who heard it.