Remembering Pow The Forgotten Rice Krispies Mascot

Kellogg's cereal mascots are some of the most well-known figures that so many of us grew up around during the height of popularity of eating cereal in the morning. It’s kind of hard not to considering Kellogg's and Post are from Battle Creek, and they came out with so many memorable characters.

Three of the most iconic of those are Snap, Crackle, and Pop, the mascots for Rice Krispies cereal. But according to one commercial, there is a fourth long-lost brother named POW!

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That has seemingly been erased from the Kellogg mascot archives except for a few commercials. But who is this long-lost brother POW! And why did he end up not making the cut?

It turns out the Smithsonian Magazine did a little research into this sometime ago, and the reason that he’s been long gone as he was never a brother to begin with, but a friend, as they explained:

Today you’ll find the oldest of the bunch, Snap! in a chef’s hat; Crackle! the middle brother, with a knit beanie (hipsters rejoice!); and Pop! the youngest, tipping his marching band cap. But in early 1950, Kellogg’s marketers snuck in a fourth friend, Pow. The company said in an email to Smithsonian.com, “[Pow] appeared in two TV commercials. The spaceman character was meant to exude the ‘power of whole grain rice.’ He was never considered an official character.”

So I guess he was never intended to be the 4th brother, which I find a little insulting to POW! He came through and scooped the homies up for a lift at the end of the commercial. I guess he was just the equivalent of the 1950 Lyft driver.