It’s the Final Cosmic Curtain for Quisp Cereal

Back in the 1960s when kids ate a lot of breakfast cereal, Quaker Oats made it fun by introducing two new cereals with mascots that were constantly feuding: Quisp and Quake.

Quisp was a pink space alien with a propeller on his head from the planet Q. Quake was a super hero type with a miner's helmet who lived in the center of the earth. Commercials featured funny situations in which they battled it out, attempting to prove their cereal was better. Kids could choose which one they preferred – Quaker Oats would win either way.

Here's the very first commercial, from 1965, along with an ample sample of other early ones.

Quaker already had been enjoying great success with its Cap'n Crunch cereal, with character designs and commercials from Jay Ward Studios – the same creative team behind Rocky and Bullwinkle. So it made sense to put the same team to work to launch even more cereals. 

Mom bought both cereals in our house. I remember liking Quake a little better – both the character and the cereal, which was somewhat similar to Cap'n Crunch. 

Anyways, the commercials went on for several years before it became apparent that kids preferred Quisp. An attempt to redesign and 'soften' Quake, turning him into sort of an Australian cowboy superhero with a 'quangaroo' sidekick, ultimately didn't work. Kids voted, and Quake cereal went into retirement.

But Quisp continued on right into the 1980s without his nemesis, in 'quazy' defiance of all marketing reason. 

Quisp was eventually officially relaunched to much nostalgic fanfare, with updated box graphics and its own website where you could order it. 

New promotional items were created, including a watch that you could send away for (I did).

Eventually, the hoopla died down and the website was grounded. But for years, you could still buy Quisp at all Marc's stores. I bought a box every so often.

That is, until last year at some point, when Quisp disappeared from Marc's store shelves.

Fearing the worst, I recently contacted PepsiCo, the current owner of Quaker Oats brands. Unfortunately, they confirmed my suspicions. They wrote, "Thank you for contacting us. We're sorry that Quisp has been discontinued. We know many of our fans, like you, have favorites, and it can be disappointing to see a favorite disappear from store shelves. Since retail shelf space is limited, some products can only be offered on a rotating basis. I will share your request with our Sales and Marketing Teams as they may consider bringing this back."

Thus PepsiCo accomplished what Quake could not.

It's pretty amazing that Quisp lasted this long despite the fact it had no advertising at all. But like Donald Duck Orange Juice, Quisp's disappearance from the store shelves is a solemn reminder that time marches on, corporations make their marketing decisions based on customer demand, and nothing lasts forever – except in our memories. 

An original Quisp 'playmate' from the 1960s

An original Quisp bank from the 1960s

Back panel from an in-box comic book