Pebbles Cereal - Product History

Product History

Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles Cereal were reintroductions of a low share of market Post children's cereal brand called Sugar Rice Krinkles. The Product Group Manager at the time, Larry Weiss, licensed use of The Flintstones for cereal from Hanna-Barbera in an attempt to reinvigorate the children's cereal business for Post Cereals. Prior to that time, character licensing had been used for promotion, but there had never been a brand created around a media character. The brand was marketed despite internal concern it would be a fad and not last more than a year. Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles were simultaneously introduced on the West Coast in 1969 and strong consumer demand led to national distribution. The brand has been one of the most consistent best sellers ever since.

The original working names for the companion cereals were Flint Chips and Rubble Stones, consistent with the appearance of the cereal and The Flintstone's Stone Age imagery. Frank Corey, Benton & Bowles' creative head for the Post Cereal business suggested the alternative names Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles, which were adopted.

The basic product retained the Sugar Rice Krinkles form, using the existing expander process and Battle Creek production facilities. The flavors, colors and other product formulations were carefully developed by Battle Creek product experts supported by marketing using the Linescale research technique. The objective was to create product characteristics which matched the expectations of both children and parents for what The Flintstones cereals should look and taste like. After many iterations, the Cocoa Pebbles formula was set and has remained largely unchanged over the years. Fruity Pebbles also remained essentially unchanged for decades. In recent years some additions and variations have been made to the Fruity Pebbles product formulation.

Unlike its sister cereal Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles has undergone many formula additions and variants such as "Half Sugar Fruity Pebbles", "Dino Pebbles" (late 1980s- early 1990s), "Marshmallow Mania Pebbles", and "Bamm-Bamm Pebbles". The cereal started out with three colors: orange, red, and yellow. New colors were added over time such as purple in 1980, green in 1984, "Berry Blue" in 1994, "Incrediberry Purple" in 1995 and "Bedrock Berry Pink" in 2005. A berry cereal called Bamm-Bamm Berry Pebbles was released in 2007; although they are like Fruity Pebbles, they feature only berry flavors. The formula for both versions of Pebbles had a major addition in 2006: polydextrose became a key ingredient.. As of 2012, Polydextrose is not currently listed as an ingredient in any Pebbles varieties.

The box covers for the various Pebbles boxes were illustrated by commercial artist Seymour Schachter since 2006.