Time to dip our spoons into the wonderful world of animated cereal commercials. While there are so many new and old ones to choose from, I decided to look at some old Rice Krispies commercials because, as a kid, I loved the ads—especially the three elves. My mom wouldn’t buy sugary cereals, so Rice Krispies, Shreddies, Raisin Bran, and shredded wheat were always stocked in our house, but mom never caught us pouring white sugar on top! LOL. I also have memories of making Rice Krispie squares with my grandma on weekends and getting creative with dye colors and décor to make them festive for the holidays. I used to always put my ear to the cereal when I poured the milk, just to listen for that famous sound. I decided to write up one specific commercial, but I’m also including a second video link that features multiple ads from the 1990s that are so enjoyable!
Score card
There’s no director or production company mention in the search results for the 1996 bone health ad’s production company or director. However, Kellogg’s has historically worked with top animation studios like Aardman Animations for their Rice Krispies campaigns. The spot first ran in 1996, as part of a mid-to-late year campaign focusing on nutrition.
How was it made?
This ad uses stop-motion animation with minimal live action. There aren’t any real actors, but there are real Rice Krispies, milk, and props in the mix. Stop-motion means animators physically move puppets—crafted by modelers or the animators themselves—frame by frame, with each movement captured as a still photo and played back at normal speed for lifelike action. The amount of work for such a short ad is enormous but, judging by the effort in every frame, completely worth it.
Stop-motion gives these ads a whimsical, tactile feel, making the characters lively and appealing. It’s a technique that successfully targets kids, who see fun, and parents, who see quality and care in the craft. Rice Krispies used this animation across several campaigns with fresh storylines every time.
What materials were used?
The materials showcase a real sense of craft: resin or polymer clay for expressive heads and hands, wire armatures for flexibility, and fabric and mini props for costumes and sets, making the elves’ world and cereal bowl environments so charming and handcrafted. Real milk and cereal—plus miniature furniture—round out the set. For capturing, animators used single-frame film or early digital cameras on tripods, moving the characters by hand for every shot. Backgrounds and sets were handmade in miniature with carefully controlled lighting for visual consistency.
The Elves
Snap, Crackle, and Pop are gnome-like elves first introduced in the 1930s as the Rice Krispies mascots. Snap is the eldest, a leader with his white baker’s toque, responsible and practical. Crackle’s the middle child, usually in a red or striped cap, always the joker and the lighthearted one. Pop is the youngest, decked out in a drum major’s shako or a combination of hats, excitable, mischievous, sometimes clumsy, and usually the center of attention. They’re designed as a sibling trio, to connect with both kids and parents—a balance they’ve maintained, even as their looks and voices have evolved with the times.
What is the commercial about?
In 1996, Kellogg’s released a memorable Rice Krispies advert with Snap, Crackle, and Pop. I remember seeing it—these mischievous characters came to life, each showing off a distinct personality. Pop, always the goofster, tumbles into the opening scene. The three then demonstrate bone health by lifting a huge bone and chopping through sugar cubes, quickly hiding when someone approaches. It’s a nod to the cereal’s classic snap, crackle, and pop, the sound I, like many kids, would listen to every morning after pouring in milk. This ad didn’t just celebrate that fun sound—it smartly added a bone health message for parents, so kids fell for the mascots while parents felt good about the cereal.
The theme centers on how eating Rice Krispies with milk provides calcium, which helps build strong bones in children. Snap, Crackle & Pop—always playful—appear as mascots encouraging kids at breakfast, making cereal and milk feel like the perfect pair for bone health. The ad was shown during children’s and family programming blocks in 1996, clearly aimed at health-conscious parents.
How Did I See It?
TickTock & Youtube
My Thoughts
Honestly, I love this commercial for its stop-motion craft! On YouTube, I even slowed it frame by frame to watch how they moved and shaped the puppets. I get a kick out of Pop falling into the shot, the playful bone-smacking, and the way Pop’s face springs up right into the camera. Watching the sugar chopping and seeing every little movement in stop-motion is fantastic, especially tracking the subtle changes in their faces and the sculpting between frames.
There’s no formal documentation about the public reception, but through fan sites and compilation clips on YouTube, it clearly stood out and often gets a nostalgic mention.
