Froot Loops is a brand of sweetened, fruit-flavored breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's and sold in many countries. The cereal pieces are ring-shaped (hence "loops") and come in a variety of bright colors and a blend of fruit flavors (hence "froot", a cacography of fruit). However, there is no actual fruit in Froot Loops and they are all the same flavor. Kellogg's introduced Froot Loops in 1963. Originally, there were only red, orange and yellow loops, but green, blue and purple were added during the 1990s. Different methods of production are used in the UK where, due to the lack of natural colourings for yellow, red and blue, Froot Loops are purple, green and orange, and the loops are also larger in size. Although the marketing side of Kellogg's sold the idea that each individual loop color was a different flavor, Kellogg's has acknowledged that all share the same fruit-blend flavor.
Mascot[]
Toucan Sam has been the mascot of Froot Loops since its first appearance. Toucan Sam is a blue anthropomorphic toucan; the colors of his bill correspond to the three original Froot Loop colors. While toucans have a sense of smell, as most other birds, he is portrayed as having an uncanny ability to smell Froot Loops from great distances and locates a concealed bowl of the cereal while intoning "Follow my nose! It always knows!" or "Follow my nose! For the fruity taste that shows!"
Toucan Sam was first voiced by Mel Blanc, originally beginning with an "American accent" and later changing to a "British accent".
during the middle of 2020, Toucan Sam was redesigned to make him more "modern". Not long after, users on Twitter question Kellogg's for the redesign.
Varieties[]
Kellogg's made several varieties of snack foods, including snack bags called Snack Ums. Snack Ums were similar to the cereal but larger. Their slogan was "Super-sized bites with deliciously intense natural fruit flavors"..."Flavor Bursting!" Froot Loops-branding by Kellogg's was also used with the Froot Loops cereal bar.
In the middle of 2012, Kellogg's introduced Froot Loops to the UK market for a limited time with only the secondary colors (orange, green, and purple), as natural color substitutes for red, yellow, and blue could not be found. The recipe also differed from the US version. Kellogg's stated that "due to European legislation we have been unable to produce Froot Loops to the same specifications as the US product. The formulations are different, including sugar and salt levels and the UK version has been produced with natural food additives and flavourings which will account for the differences in appearance and taste between the two products." The UK Froot Loops are also larger in size compared with their American counterparts, and due to the different method of formulation, are a much coarser cereal. In September 2015, Kellogg's removed Froot Loops from the UK market due to a lack of demand for the cereal, although in 2017, a special Unicorn Froot Loops limited edition was released in the UK. As of 2019, special limited edition Unicorn Froot Loops, Mermaid Froot Loops, and Baby Shark Froot Loops cereals have been made available.
