History Advertising / Freakies

** "Cocoa Freakies" features Hamhose as the main character for promotions, as the cereal was supposedly made to placate him.

* GrumpyBear: Grumble, due to how constantly sore his feet are, is always grumpy. The constantly being stepped on doesn't help whatsoever.

* BerserkButton:
** Be sure to spell [=BossMoss=]'s name right.
** Stay away from Grumble's feet.

* CamelCase: The correct way to spell [=BossMoss=]'s way is through this. [[BerserkButton Make sure to spell it right!]]

-->--- "We Are the Freakies" commercial

''‘Cause we love our ceer-ee-eal!''
--> '''''We Are the Freakies'' commercial '''

The results ended up with the “Freakies”. The mascots were created by the Wells Rich Greene advertising agency, with Jackie End as the head of the project. Unlike many cereal mascots, the Freakies were created not just to advertise: they have a surprisingly rich lore.

The Freakies are seven small and lumpy monsters, each with their own personality: overconfident leader [=BossMoss=], narcissistic Snorkledorf, shy Hamhose, grouchy Grumble, demure Cowmumble, know-it-all Gargle, and kiss up Goody-Goody. The seven of them left the “Old World” in search of the Freakies Tree, a tree that grew an unlimited amount of the cereal.

Two other spin-off cereals were created from the base cereal: chocolate-flavored “Cocoa Freakies” (only available in 1973) and fruit-flavored “Fruity Freakies” (available from 1975 to 1976).

** Snorkledorf became “Tooter” (and was also [[GenderFlip changed to a female character]]).
** Hamhose became “Hugger”.
** Cowmumble became “Sweetie”.
** Gargle became “Ace”.
** Goody-Goody became “Hotdog” (and was also [[GenderFlip changed to a male character]]).
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: The 80s iteration of the cereal turns the Freakies from monsters into aliens, while still keeping their original designs. They’ve since returned to monsters for remaining merchandise.
* AgonyOfTheFeet: Grumble is grumpy because he has big feet. Having big feet means they always hurt, and people always step on them. For the others, it’s an accident, but Goody-Goody is the only one to ''purposefully'' step on them.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Cowmumble’s lack of confidence prevents her from admitting to her crush on [=BossMoss=].
* AlterKocker: Grumble is described in an interview by Jackie End as “someone’s hard-headed Jewish Grandfather with foot trouble”. Indeed, he has the accent and appears to be the eldest Freakie.
* AmbiguousGender: “Hugger”, the 80s reimagining of Hamhose, is the only Freakie to lack any identifying pronouns in their bio poem.
* ArtEvolution: The first commercial gave the characters a slightly looser and “floppier” design in their looks. Subsequent designs of the characters made them much more “solid” in terms of their design.

** Be sure to spell [=BossMoss=]’s name right.
** Stay away from Grumble’s feet.

* CamelCase: The correct way to spell [=BossMoss=]’s way is through this. [[BerserkButton Make sure to spell it right!]]

** “Cocoa Freakies” features Hamhose as the main character for promotions, as the cereal was supposedly made to placate him.
** “Fruity Freakies” has Goody-Goody as the main character, as it was her idea in the promotions.
* EatingLunchAlone: Hamhose is a self-inflicted variant of this. He’s nervous around others, so he prefers to eat in peace. Once, when he was eating cereal while hidden under a mound of it, this had the other Freakies mistaking him for a monster that had come to eat all of their cereal.

** Snorkledorf’s nose is a long elephant-like trunk that appears to have fangs at the end of them. He’s able to play it like a kazoo.
** Goody-Goody has a much more downplayed, yet still very obvious, large nose. It sort of “flops” over her face.

** The 80s iteration of the cereal turns Goody-Goody (renamed “Hotdog”) into a male character.
** Snorkledorf (renamed “Tooter”) became a female character in the 80s iteration.
* GrowsOnTrees: The Freakies Tree grows the cereal like fruit. It’s light enough to also flutter down like leaves into a pile as well.
* GrumpyBear: Grumble, due to how constantly sore his feet are, is always grumpy. The constantly being stepped on doesn’t help whatsoever.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Cowmumble is kind, sweet, pretty, and the best motivator to the other Freakies. Unfortunately, the only person she can’t motivate is ''herself''. She constantly looks down on herself, and attempts to use self-help tapes in an attempt to help boost her self-worth.
* HypocriticalHumor: During the “introduction” commercial, Snorkledorf, the Freakie with [[GagNose a trunk for a nose]], considers Hamhose’s nose, which is small and standard in comparison, to be “weird”.

* InsufferableGenius: Gargle is smart…and he knows this. He’d rather prattle on about everything ''he'' knows, and dismiss the stuff others know, because he’s sure he knows everything, even when he doesn’t.
* TheLeader: [=BossMoss=] is the leader of the Freakies. The other Freakies come to him with his problems. He’s not actually able to ''solve'' the problems, but he’s always willing to listen.

** [=BossMoss=]: The “boss” of the Freakies. He’s also green, like moss.

** Cowmumble: Has huge fluttery eyes, so is “cow-eyed”.

* {{Narcissist}}: Snorkledorf. He’s incredibly focused on his own looks, believing he’s the most handsome Freakie (considering how Freakies look, he easily ''could'' be!). He constantly looks at himself in mirrors and even writes love letters to himself.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: [=BossMoss=]’s voice is a parody of Creator/JohnWayne.

** Shyness makes up Hamhose’s biggest personality trait. He prefers to be alone, and doesn’t like to be hoisted in the spotlight.
** Cowmumble is a much more downplayed version of this trope. She’s able to express herself much more than Hamhose, but is still considered “demure”.
* ToTheTuneOf: The “Who Grew the Freakies Tree?” commercial performs the titular song to the tune of "The Book Of Love" by The Monotones.

** Hamhose also has ham sandwiches and chocolate as two of his favorite foods. He’s partially named for the former, while “Cocoa Freakies” are created to stop a manic want for the latter for him.

* EatingLunchAlone: Hamhose is a self-inflicted variant of this. He’s nervous around others, so he prefers to eat in peace. Doing so once had the other Freakies mistaking him for a monster that had come to eat all of their cereal.