Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC),[1] known as Croque-Cannelle in French Canada and Curiously Cinnamon in the UK (previously Cinnamon Grahams), and as a variant called Cini Minis in other European and Latin American countries, is a brand of breakfast cereal produced by General Mills and Nestlé. First produced in 1984,[2] the cereal aims to provide the taste of cinnamon toast in a crunch cereal format. The cereal consists of small squares or rectangles of wheat and rice covered with cinnamon and sugar. The cereal is puffed and when immersed in milk, it makes a "snap" noise, similar to Rice Krispies. In most European countries and North America, the product is sold in boxes, but in Poland, Slovakia and Russia the cereal is sold in bags. The product was originally marketed outside Europe with the mascot of a jolly baker named Wendell. Wendell was replaced as a mascot by the "Crazy Squares", sentient Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares that often eat each other in commercials.
Not to be confused with French Toast Crunch, a similar cereal.Product type
March 5, 1984
"Crave Those Crazy Squares", "Unlock the Cinnaverse", "Blasted With Cinna-Dust"
Marketing[edit]
Originally, the three bakers were the mascots and the cereal did not have a slogan. Starting in 1995, it was given the slogan, "The taste you can see." In 2007, Cinnamon Toast Crunch experimented with a new slogan, "It's That Intense", but switched back after poor reception. In 2009, the slogan became "Crave those crazy squares".
In 1997, appealing to adult-oriented programming, a campaign featured the slogan "The adult thing to do", mostly centering on "adult" things reverting to children's, including cereal (for instance, a fictional "adult" cereal named "Health Pellets" is replaced with Cinnamon Toast Crunch). This was changed in 2004 to "Breakfast on a whole other level", which was replaced with "Crave those crazy squares" in 2009.
There have been at least five offshoots of the cereal:
French Toast Crunch is shaped like many little French toast slices, reminiscent of the style of Cookie Crisp. It was discontinued in 2006, but made a return in 2015 due to its cult popularity among its fans.[14] Peanut Butter Toast Crunch was a cereal consisting of flakes similar but darker to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Frosted Toast Crunch resembles Cinnamon Toast Crunch with vanilla coating. This cereal was discontinued by 2006. As another offshoot, Monopoly Cereal was a limited edition product created in April 2003 by General Mills. The cereal was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch but with the addition of marshmallows based on the pieces in the Monopoly game, such as houses and hotels. Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch except with a sugar cookie taste.
In Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Israel, and Poland where a variant of the cereal is known as Cini Minis, a strawberry flavoured variant named Erdbeer Minis/Strawberry Minis exists. In Germany and Austria it replaced a previously existing apple flavoured variant called Äpple Minis. This strawberry flavoured variant was later released in the UK as Curiously Strawberry.
In 2018, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros were introduced. The cereal has the same cinnamon sugar flavor as the original but is shaped like a mini churro.[15] A chocolate version soon followed, and was introduced in 2021 to the UK as Curiously Cinnamon Churros.
Shrimp tail contamination incident[edit]
On March 22, 2021, American writer, rapper and podcaster Jensen Karp found what appeared to be discarded shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal; his tweets about the incident went viral.[16] Additionally, Karp found a piece of string,[17] "small black pieces" embedded into some pieces of the cereal, and an object which looked like a pea.[18] General Mills then issued a statement on Twitter claiming the tails were "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended".[19] As of March 2021, General Mills claim they are investigating the case, but that contamination "did not occur at [their] facility".[20]
The incident was covered internationally by multiple major news outlets, who were critical of the company's response.[21][22][23]
