SAN FRANCISCO – JANUARY 29: Boxes of Kellogs brand cereal are seen on the shelf at a grocery store January 19, 2004 in San Francisco. The Battle Creek, Michigan based Kellogg company said it earned $188.0 million, or 46 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, meeting Wall Street estimates, compared with $191.0 million, or 47 cents, in the year-ago period. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
There’s marketing… and then there’s Motown marketing. And few promotions in music history were as genius—or as memorable—as the Jackson 5’s cereal box record.
“You’d cut it out and put it on the record player. Nobody has topped that yet,” Mason says, still grinning at the memory.
At the height of Jackson 5 mania in the early ’70s, Motown struck a deal with Post cereals to bring the group’s music into homes in the most unexpected way: on the back of a cereal box. Kids would beg their parents for Alpha-Bits, Honeycomb, or Super Sugar Crisp—not for the sugar rush, but for the music pressed right into the cardboard.
“They literally put a 45 RPM record on the box. You just cut the circle out, slap it on the turntable, and boom—you’re playing ‘ABC.’”
The stunt wasn’t just cute—it was brilliant. It turned breakfast into a cultural experience. It fused pop stardom with childhood ritual. It made the Jackson 5 part of your daily routine.
“That was the kind of stuff Motown did that no one else could even think of,” Mason says. “They made it so you didn’t just hear the Jackson 5—you lived them.”
This was more than just a novelty item. For some kids, it was their very first record. It was how they learned to love music. Some even wore out the grooves before the cereal was finished.
“That’s when I knew,” Mason says. “These boys weren’t just a group—they were a brand. They were everywhere.”
And while competitors tried to mimic the Jackson 5’s sound, none could match their reach. You could watch them on TV, see them in magazines, hear them on the radio—and now, spin them while eating your morning cornflakes.
“To this day, no one’s figured out how to top that. It was the ultimate move.”
