Eating Quake cereal. Hanging out with Quangaroo. Foiling Quisp's crazy plots.
Quisp & Quake- A quarreling pair of Quaker Oats cereal box mascots popular in the 1960s who had their own cereal but didn't want to share air time with one another. Quisp is a round-faced impish alien from the planet "Q" with pink skin, crossed-eyes, and a broad teasing grin. Quisp weighs 43 pounds and stands slightly under four feet tall. He traveled about using the spinning propeller that sprouts from the top of his head. Quisp's mission?: to market his "Quispy, quunchy, quazy energy cereal" to the people of earth. Unfortunately, Quisp had to share his TV commercial spots with a mighty subterranean-dwelling miner named Quake (voice of William Conrad). Consequently, Quake relentlessly chased Quisp to prevent him from plugging his extraterrestrial cereal ("the biggest selling cereal from Saturn to Alpha Centauri!"). The Quisp & Quake ad campaign was created in 1965 by the Compton Ad Agency.The Q&Q cartoon characters were created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame). In 1970 Quaker Oats held a contest to see who was the most popular of the two cereals. Quisp won and Quake retreated under ground never to be seen again. Shortly thereafter, a new orange-flavored cereal and its swashbuckling mascot Simon the Quangaroo (with cape, hat and the same bold chin as Quake) arrived on the seen to continue the feud over who had the best cereal. Quisp and Simon entered a cross-country race to decide the winner. The Quisp Cereal was discontinued by Quaker Oats in the 1970s but reintroduced for sale on the Internet and selected markets in 1999 for baby boomers who craved the saucer-shaped crunchy corn cereal of their youth.The fact is: in 1965, the Quaker Oats Company and Jay Ward (the artist behind Rocky & Bullwinkle) debuted Quisp, a quirky, propeller-headed alien whose cereal was supposed to provide “Quazy Energy,†and Quake, a muscle-bound miner whose cereal promised doses of “Earthquake Power†by the spoonful. The alien and the miner were natural nemeses. Apparently, Quisp's pink skin, green-jumpsuit and crossed eyes (and his mission to hock alien eats all over the world) just didn't sit well with Quake, whose straight-laced, all-American demeanor wouldn't stand for the U.S. cereal market being cornered by an extra-terrestrial. And so the war of the waves and awards began, as Quisp and Quake competed for commercial airtime, each insisting his cereal was the better breakfast staple (indistinguishable tastes, notwithstanding). Both unlikely pitchmen offered incredibly persuasive premiums like Quisp's beanie with propellers, Quazy moon-mobile, flying saucers and smoking space gun; and Quake's explorer's kit, volcano ring, helmet and Super Spinner toy. But Quaker Oats ended the Great Sixties Cereal Battle by holding a contest to weigh each character's popularity with consumers in 1970. Quisp proved his pitchman prowess far outweighed his adversary's. After all, Quisp was the one with all the convincing catchphrases like “Quispy, quunchy, quazy energy!†and “the biggest selling cereal from Saturn to Alpha Centauri!â€Meanwhile, Quake went underground and was never heard from again. We still like to think that every time Fruity Pebbles or Pop Rocks say “new and improved†on the packaging, Quake had something to do with it.
Quake Commercials.
Jay Ward, John Wayne, Quangaroo, Billy the kid, Lee Dorsey, Jesse James. Done In Paint.