Newspaper Advertisements
On August 21, 1962, George Springer's "Sports Jottings" column in the Beckley, West Virginia Post-Herald reported that cereal football cards like those from the baseball promotion had hit grocery store shelves. He did not mention Post by name, but there were no other football cards on cereal boxes at the time. Grocery store ads began to appear in local newspapers, starting in October and running into December.
Through their art and marketing departments, Post provided artwork for grocery stores to use in creating newspaper ads. There were three themed banners that could be used to head up an ad: "Price Tacklin' Days," "DOWN TO EARTH FALL PRICES," and "CATCH OUR SPECTACULAR BARGAINS." The latter two featured characters typically used on most Post football items, while "Price Tacklin' Days" used a more realistic drawing of a ball carrier being tackled.
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| Price Tacklin' Days |
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| DOWN TO EARTH FALL PRICES |
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| CATCH OUR SPECTACULAR BARGAINS |
Shown below are examples of artwork used in Post cereal football promotion newspaper ads. There are advertising examples for all four of the areas making up the General Foods football promotion: Post cereal football cards, Tang, Swans Down Cake Mixes and Gravy Train dog food. At bottom is a chart of Post cereal box prices as they were in 1962.
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| Booklets ad | Free Trading Cards | Touchdown Specials |
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| Swans Down Cake Decorations | Tang Special Team Photos Offer | Gravy Train Touchdown Special |
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| Megaphone and Stadium | Cheerleaders | Cheerleader Girl |
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| Tackle the Ref | Referee | Cheerleader Boy |
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| Running Back | Quarterback | Receiver |
| Cereal Brand | Size (oz.) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha-Bits | 8 | 25-31¢ |
| Alpha-Bits | 13 | 34-41¢ |
| Bran Flakes | 16 | 23-37¢ |
| Crispy Critters | 8 | 27-30¢ |
| Crispy Critters | 13 | 35¢ |
| Grape Nuts | 11 | 25-29¢ |
| Grape Nuts | 16 | 25-35¢ |
| Grape Nuts Flakes | 12 | 24-29¢ |
| Grape Nuts Flakes | 16 | 33-35¢ |
| Oat Flakes | 10 | 24-29¢ |
| Post Tens | 9½ | 30-45¢ |
| Post Toasties | 8 | 19-21¢ |
| Post Toasties | 12 | 23-30¢ |
| Post Toasties | 18 | 33-38¢ |
| Raisin Bran | 14 | 33-36¢ |
| Rice Krinkles | 10 | 26-31¢ |
| Sugar Coated Corn Flakes | 10 | 26-30¢ |
| Sugar Crisp | 9 | 25-30¢ |
| Sugar Crisp | 14 | 37-47¢ |
| Top 3 | 10 | 30¢ |
| Treat Pak | 5¼ | 24-33¢ |
