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by Marion Nestle
Jul
30
2013
Breakfast cereals: hefty money-makers (especially those with sugar)
Food Navigator just did a report on cereal “blockbusters,” the top best-selling brands.
Numbers like these are so hard to come by that they inspired me to make a table.
I looked up some figures on advertising expenditures for specific cereals from Advertising Age, 100 leading advertisers (June 24, 2013).
Top selling cereal brands, July 2012-June 2013
| RANK | CEREAL | COMPANY | REVENUE,$ MILLIONS * | ADVERTISING.$ MILLIONS * |
| 1 | Honey Nut Cheerios | General Mills | 556 | ** |
| 2 | Frosted Flakes | Kellogg | 446 | 50 |
| 3 | Honey Bunches of Oats | Post | 380 | — |
| 4 | Cheerios | General Mills | 364 | ** |
| 5 | Cinnamon Toast Crunch | General Mills | 292 | 36 |
| 6 | Special K | Kellogg | 284 | 141 |
| 7 | Frosted Mini Wheat | Kellogg | 281 | 67 |
| 8 | Lucky Charms | Kellogg | 259 | 15 |
| 9 | Froot Loops | Kellogg | 176 | 13 |
| 10 | Raisin Bran | Kellogg | 170 | 13 |
*All numbers rounded off. **All forms of Cheerios: $167 million
My conclusions:
- At least 8 of the top 10 are sugary cereals.
- At least 5 are targeted to children.
- Six of the top 10 are made by Kellogg.
- Advertising expenditures are roughly proportional to sales (Special K is an exception: not sure why).
Think about what that money could do if used to promote public health.