To squash rumors of the trademarked character Cap’n Crunch jumping ship, Quaker Oats Company (a division of PepsiCo) is giving the Cap’n his own late night TV talk show* (a series of animated cartoons). To help boost his Tuesday night ratings (11:35 pm EDT on YouTube), the Cap’n is also chewing the scenery on media networks like Twitter and Facebook. His endearing FB posts (he admits to being be a social media novice) have, so far, charmed 270,000 Friends. It’s not all about voting for your favorite Cap’n Crunch flavor (there are eight!). When a fan/friend made the red Equality symbol out of his bowl of Cap’n Crunch Berries and sent a photo, the Cap’n reposted it “because even the Cap’n believes in Equality.” (Don’t tell the first mate.) The equality bit didn’t go over well with all of his fans (some vowed to boycott the product) but a TV talk show is nothing without controversy.
Pamela Low developed the original Cap’n Crunch flavor in 1963. It was inspired by a recipe of brown sugar and butter over rice that her grandmother used to serve her. She described the flavor coating as “want-more-ishness.” She went on to develop flavors for Almond Joy, Mounds and Health candy bars.
*Produced by Huge, in partnership with Gifted Youth (the commercial production division of Funny or Die).
