History Main / CerealInducedSuperpowers

A marketing form of PowerUpFood (and may count as this if it's the mascot shown doing it). Compare SuperSerum. ThePowerOfCheese is a related trope that depicts the product as having powers itself, as are examples of ParodyProductPlacement for the Advertising/HostessFruitPies advertising campaign. Related to MissedMealAesop in that the ads are encouraging the viewers to eat.

* Another Chefboyardee example: Back when they made fun pasta shapes of every popular character, it made VideoGame/PacMan themed shapes, and [[WesternAnimation/PacMan the cartoon version]] of Pac Man appeared in a commercial, where the pasta proved just as good as Power Pellets at fighting the Ghost Monsters. [[CatchPhrase Thank goodness for Chef Boyardee]] indeed!

* Subverted in line of Sprite ads showing that Sprite won't give you special powers. It just quenches your thirst. In one ad, a boy drinks Sprite on a basketball court and then tries to dunk while a voicover says, "If you want to play like the NBA stars..." [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and he falls on his face]], "...practice." In another, a boy drinks sprite before fighting Wrestling/{{Sting}}... and gets a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* Subverted in the commercial for Kellogg's ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Powerpuff Girls]]'' cereal, where Mojo Jojo steals a box of the stuff from the girls and eats it, believing it to be the secret to their power. They beat him up just as easily as before.

* The UK had a cereal called "Sugar Smacks," which was advertised in the 1970s as "The Timeless Energy of [[IAmNotShazam Dr.]] [[Series/DoctorWho Who]].

* In Britain, Ready-Brek (instant porridge, basically) used to run adverts in which kids, after eating it, acquired a red glow around them; this was ''meant'' to indicate that the breakfast was "Central Heating... for Kids", but naturally, the ads were parodied by comedians attributing the glow to other things - like living next door to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield Sellafield]].

* Parodied when Shaquille O'Neal publicly admitted to using [[http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Shaq-admits-to-taking-performance-enhancing-cere?urn=nba,163521 performance-enhancing cereals]].

* Subverted in line of Sprite ads showing that Sprite won't give you special powers. It just quenches your thirst. In one ad, a boy drinks Sprite on a basketball court and then tries to dunk while a voicover says, "If you want to play like the NBA stars..." [[RealityEnsues and he falls on his face]], "...practice." In another, a boy drinks sprite before fighting Wrestling/{{Sting}}... and gets a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* Darkly parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F5o3NSHMoM this British PSA]]. A woman on a hen night loses her balloons, so a guy dramatically turns into a superhero and starts climbing up some scaffolding to get them back - [[RealityEnsues before falling to his death]]. Alcohol just made him ''feel'' invincible. [[ScareEmStraight Know your limits]].

* British cereal Weetabix did a whole series of these: [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Elmer Fudd]] dropped his gun and ran from Bugs Bunny after Bugs ate Weetabix. The Three Bears stopped being angry about someone sitting in their chairs after finding she'd also eaten the Weetabix. RobinHood ran away from the Sheriff after seeing Weetabix on his table. The Wooden Horse of Troy came to life and made a run for it after seeing the Trojans eat Weetabix. Delilah cuts off Samson's hair, but flees when she sees he is about to eat some Weetabix. Only poor old Ned Kelly failed to use Weetabix-induced superpowers; he couldn't get the spoon through the slot in his helmet.

* Referenced and parodied in the third and last "Dexter Riley" movie from Disney, 1975's ''The Strongest Man in the World'', in which Creator/{{Kurt Russell}}'s hapless college student and his friends discover a combination of chemicals and breakfast cereal which produces temporary super strength.

A marketing form of PowerUpFood (and may count as this if it's the mascot shown doing it). Compare SuperSerum. ThePowerOfCheese is a related trope that depicts the product as having powers itself, as are examples of ParodyProductPlacement for the Advertising/HostessFruitPies advertising campaign.

* In the case of Quisp and Quake (Quaker's rival cereals of yesteryear), their commercials boasted that eating Quisp gives you "quazy energy", while Quake grants you "earthquake power". On the other hand, Orange Quangaroos (Quake's successor cereal) makes no such claims.

-->Cheerios Kid: Cheerios gives you GO!
-->Bullwinkle: (dazed) But watch where you're goin'...

* Quaker Instant Oatmeal had ''{{Popeye}}'' turn down spinach and have instant oatmeal give him his super strength. This series of ads was pulled very quickly due to public outrage. Plus, it irked the actual Quakers, who are pacifists, to have such a violent person associated with their name.

* {{Popeye}}'s use of spinach as a PowerUpFood was wisely incorporated into the real marketing of spinach for home consumption.

--> '''Neil:''' New angle. Joe Schlub eats Powersauce bar, becomes world's mightiest man.
--> '''Brad:''' It's believable. That's what I like about it.

* The print ad for Chef Boyardee's ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' pasta is a two-page comic in which the Turtles catch ThoseTwoBadGuys Rocksteady and Bebop stealing their supply of the pasta being advertised. Before taking them down, the Turtles munch down on the pasta because it gives them "[[{{crunchtastic}} total turtle power]]".

* Subverted in line of Sprite ads showing that Sprite won't give you special powers. It just quenches your thirst. In one ad, a boy drinks Sprite on a basketball court and then tries to dunk while a voicover says, "If you want to play like the NBA stars..." [[RealityEnsues and he falls on his face]], "...practice." In another, a boy drinks sprite before fighting Wrestling/Sting... and gets a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* Subverted in line of Sprite ads showing that Sprite won't give you special powers. It just quenches your thirst. In one ad, a boy drinks Sprite on a basketball court and then tries to dunk while a voicover says, "If you want to play like the NBA stars..." [[RealityEnsues and he falls on his face]], "...practice."

A marketing form of PowerUpFood (and may count as this if it's the mascot shown doing it). Compare SuperSerum. ThePowerOfCheese is a related trope that depicts the product as having powers itself, as are examples of ParodyProductPlacement for the Adveritsing/HostessFruitPies advertising campaign.

A marketing form of PowerUpFood (and may count as this if it's the mascot shown doing it). Compare SuperSerum. ThePowerOfCheese is a related trope that depicts the product as having powers itself, as is DeliciousFruitPies.

** The reason the Marie Celeste was found adrift with nobody on board? The pirate crew was about to attack a merchant vessel, but they panicked and dove overboard when they saw that its crew was eating Weetabix. Never mind that [[YouFailHistoryForever the Marie Celeste wasn't a pirate ship.]]

* The old Irn Bru ads with the slogan "Barr's Irn Bru, made in Scotland from girders" showed people acquiring super-strength and invulnerability from the drink.

* The print ad for Chef Boyardee's ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' pasta is a two-page comic in which the Turtles catch ThoseTwoBadGuys Rocksteady and Bebop stealing their supply of the pasta being advertised. Before taking them down, the Turtles munch down on the pasta because it gives them "[[{{crunchtastic}} total turtle power]]".

* A series of Mentos (The Freshmaker!) commercials had the protagonist trying to navigate obstacles to get to his love interest, and he usually comes up with a clever, lateral-thinking solution after popping one of the advertised mints.
* While not ''exactly'' this trope, {{Popeye}} is credited with saving the Spinach-growing industry in the 1930s by his constant consumption of it as a PowerUpFood.

* "Why does [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Powdered Toast]] give you sooooo much energy? Because it comes in a can, stupid!"
** It turns out that powdered toast can not actually give kids the power to fly, despite having Vitamin F.

* [[SelfExplanatory Red Bull give you WIIIINGS!]]
** Actually, it helps to temporarily restore mental alertness or wakefulness when experiencing fatigue or drowsiness.

* Many classic adverts for Guinness show people who just drank the alcoholic beverage in question performing feats of incredible strength. This includes carrying around steel girders and pulling horses in carts.

* The old Irn Bru ads with the slogan "Barr's Irn Bru, made in Scotland from girders" showed people aquiring super-strength and invulnerability from the drink.
** A similar theme occurs in the "Guinness For Strength" ads.
* One New Zealand popsicle commercial implied that teenage Space Marines could POWER UP THEIR SHIP by eating a specific kind of popsicle.

* Subverted in a Sprite ad. A boy drinks Sprite on a basketball court and then tries to dunk while a voicover says, (paraphrasing) "If you want to play like the NBA stars..." [[RealityEnsues And he falls on his face. "...practice."]]

** Well, if Spider-Man can foil criminals through the strategic use of Twinkies...

* ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'', a StealthParody of horror and 80s buddy action series, features a set of demonically possessed bagpipes that strip the protagonist of his trousers and make his legs glow orange, in a [[NightmareRetardant dark parody]] on the Ready Brek/porridge commercials. MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext.

** Super Bear's monstrous nature was used to devastating effect in the webcomic ''BreakfastOfTheGods''

* Lightspeed energy bars were a running gag on WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague since TheFlash did a commercial for them. In it, he is fighting the Rogues and his speed runs out until a kid on a skateboard throws him a Lightspeed bar. In a later episode, Deadshot smuggles a ceramic gun onto the JLA watchtower by hiding the parts in Lightspeed wrappers.