If You Ate This Cereal As A Kid, You Probably Grew Up In The '60s

The year was 1965. LBJ was president, and The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dominated radio waves for the first time. When it came to after-school snacks, '60s kids were chowing down on Jiffy Pop and homemade fluffernutter sandwiches. Today, we're shining the spotlight on one of the most memorable retro snacks from the era: Quisp Cereal, which debuted in '65 and has never totally disappeared since.

Ostensibly a portmanteau of "Quaker Oats" and "crisp," Quisp was a sweetened corn nugget cereal not unlike the taste of Cap'n Crunch, but with once distinct difference: Each piece of cereal was shaped like a miniature flying saucer. Talk about an out-of-this-world breakfast! More than the taste of the cereal, however, enduring fans remember Quisp — the cereal's eponymous cartoon alien mascot.

The same year, Quaker Oats also launched "Quake" cereal as a competitor offering to Quisp, igniting a playful mock-war (not unlike Left versus Right Twix bars, or Mike & Ike's "breakup" feud in the 2010s). Unlike the short-statured, propeller-hatted Quisp, his foil Quake was a muscular human character with bulging forearms and a yellow hard hat. Befitting his burly miner motif, Quake cereal pieces were shaped like tiny mechanical gears, but the flavor was the same as Quisp's saucers. The branding was all about colorful illustrations, a playful universe, and a developed narrative — a pioneering masterclass in serial ad campaigns.

Quisp and Quake commercials were much an advertisement as a series of playful mini-battles that promoted customer engagement among its target audience: cartoon-loving kiddos. Viewers tuned in to see Quisp, the self-proclaimed "Crown Prince of Planet Q," face off against Quake, a strongman miner who worked to produce cereal at the center of the earth. One 1960s commercial depicts Quisp and Quake competing to "save Little Nell from a pack of ravenous wolves." In another commercial, they compete to save Grandma Peachy ("and her wildflower reserve") from a nearby flooding dam. Eating Quisp promised "quazy energy," while Quake cereal promised "earthquake power."

Both mascots were created by Jay Ward, the imagination behind "Rocky & Bullwinkle" cartoons. Ward also created Quaker Oats' Cap'n Crunch mascot, which debuted two years prior in 1963. Incidentally, Daws Butler (the voice actor for Quisp) also voiced Cap'n Crunch, as well as Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, and Yogi Bear – dominant leading roles of '60s cartoon-dom that would have cemented Quisp's voice in the subconscious recognition of young commercial-viewers.

Finally, in 1972, Quaker Oats held a promotion asking folks to send in their vote for which cereal would stay and which would be removed from shelves, and per the votes, Quisp beat out Quake. The mascot was brought back one more time with an orange-hued kangaroo sidekick character ("Quangaroo"), but this Quake spinoff too was discontinued in 1976.

Decades later, Quisp remains a memorable character, with his quippy taglines like, "the biggest selling cereal from Saturn to Alpha Centauri." Quisp cereal remained on the market until 1979, and apart from a few short-lived comebacks in 1985, 2001, and 2012, it's been out of permanent rotation since the Carter administration (did Quisp decide to go back to Planet Q?). However, sporadic, unpredictable sightings of Quisp cereal still seem to pop up from time to time in select stores.

An April 2024 Facebook post in a dedicated nostalgic cereal group shares, "I am one of the fortunate people who live in a market where Quisp cereal is still sold. Or at least I thought it was. I went to buy a box recently and found none on the shelf it usually is or any shelf tag." The poster reached out to Quaker Oats about the matter, and quoth the company's reply, "We're sorry to say that Quisp has been discontinued [...] I will share your request with our Sales and Marketing Teams as they may consider bringing this back." Apparently, all hope is not lost, thanks to the quazy energy of Quisp and the earthquake power of Quake ... or, thanks to the purchasing power of nostalgic consumer interests, anyway.