Trix is a brand of breakfast cereal made by General Mills for the North American and by Nestlé for the European, South American and Asian markets. The cereal consists of fruit-flavored, sweetened, ground-corn pieces. These were originally round cereal pieces, but were later changed to puffed fruit-shaped pieces. In January 2007, Trix Cereal company General Mills returned Trix cereal to their original shape.In the summer of 1959, Joe Harris was asked by General Mills for an identity for its corn cereal with fruit flavors named Trix which had been on the market since 1954. On August 4, a Sunday night, Harris created the Trix Rabbit, including copy, character, storyboard and the catch phrase. It was immediately accepted by his supervisors and soon became a huge success which boosted the sales of the cereal. The catch phrase "Silly Rabbit, Trix is for kids" enbedded itself into the national consciousness. The rest is comtemporary history. This has made the Trix Rabbit the oldest commercial mascot to continue to exist on commercial television, let alone his appearance on the cereal's box cover. Talk about staying power, our frustrated white rabbit has it!
In the Trix Rabbit's TV debut commercial, which was in black & white, he says, "I'm a rabbit, and rabbits are suppose to like carrots. But I hate carrots. I like Trix". And believe me, rabbits do like Trix because all rabbits have a "sweet tooth". But please The Trix Rabbit theme is similar to Wyle E. Coyote in that Wyle is never able to catch the Roadrunner. The Trix Rabbit will undergo all kinds of disguises to trick the kids into giving him the cereal box, but even when he succeeds the kids always get the box back before the Trix Rabbit can get even have a taste. On a few rare occaions the Trix Rabbit does manage to get a spoonful of the coveted puff-corn colored cereal.
For our 21st century readers to get a feel of what commercials were like back in the "cave days" of television, you can check out this vintage Trix commercial from the early 1960's at: Vintage Trix Rabbit.
Through the years many commercial campaigns for the Trix Rabbit have taken place. During one Presidential Election season children were asked to write in to vote on whether or not the Trix Rabbit should be allowed to eat a bowl of Trix. 99% voted YES, so the Trix Rabbit was allowed to eat one bowl of cereal, after which the two children in the commercial took away the box so the Trix Rabbit could not have any more because "....................................." - You know the answer.
Tony Jaffe is also credited with writing "Trix are for Kids" spots for a number of years.
In another campaign that launched in the early summer of 2003, the Trix Rabbit disappeared from the cereal box during the "Solve the Great Trix Train Robbery" promotion. The "kids" were on a train going through a tunnel in New York during which their box of Trix was stolen. The five suspects on the train were then featured on the cereal box instead of the Trix Rabbit, consisting of Bunny O'Hare, Sally Rabbit, "Wild" Barry Blue, Willy Gettum and F. Rudy Flavors. There is now even a web site for children inspired by this episode at: www.SillyRabbit.com.
Even in a hardcore violent movie such as "Kill Bill", the characters played by Uma Thurman and Luci Lu exchange dialogue where one calls the other "Silly rabbit", and the response is (of course) "Trix is for kids". In the adult cartoon show "Family Guy" there is a short segment spoofing the Trix Rabbit commercials. You can take a look at a YouTube version of this at: Family Guy Trix.
Yes, our house rabbits can be silly (which makes them so fun to own), and they can be tricky. If you could see our Bincy Bunny do a "binky" and then tear off down our long hallway at super sonic speed you could not help but laugh at how silly she looks. And whenever our Bincy bunny becomes too quiet, we always check up on her to make sure she is not getting into trouble.
Kudos to General Mills for all their success in using a rabbit to promote their product.
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