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Cheerios Millennios Cereal Box

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Description
The coming of the new millennium generated few examples of themed merchandise. There was speculation that the negativity associated with the Y2K bug would do little to produce strong sales. This notion was supported by JC Penney’s failed attempt to sell pillows, throws, dresses, and countdown clocks carrying the “01-01-00” graphic. General Mills, Inc., however, came up with the idea of adding a sweetened cereal in the shape of the numeral “2” to their standard Cheerios brand. They packaged this cereal in a shiny purple box and called it Millennios. Printed on the back of the box were seven predictions of future events, with space left to fill in the year. Predictions include “By ___ everyone will be driving electric cars” and “By ___ people will be able to teleport from one place to another.” This box, made for sale in Canada, is written in English and French.
References: [last accessed 2019-09-18]
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Y2K-Angst-Spooks-Merchandisers-Companies-avoid-2906421.php
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Joan Krammer
1999
ID Number
2007.3054.01
catalog number
2007.3054.01
nonaccession number
2007.3054
Object Name
box
box, cereal
Physical Description
cardboard (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 27.1 cm x 20 cm x 5 cm; 10 21/32 in x 7 7/8 in x 1 31/32 in
place made
Canada
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Advertising
Computers & Business Machines
Y2K
National Museum of American History
Subject
Y2K
Record ID
nmah_1348223
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-b9f7-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Related Content

  • 2000: A Year in the Collections

Cheerios Cereal Box with Millennios
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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