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{{Short description|Cereal brand, and name of its mascot}}
{{for|the DC comics character Qwsp, formerly Quisp|Qwsp}}
{{Infobox brand
| name = Quisp
| logo = Quisp brand logo.png
| logo_size = 150
| image = Bowl of Quisp.JPG
| image_size = 200
| caption =
| producttype = [[Breakfast cereal]]
| currentowner = [[Quaker Oats]]
| producedby =
| country = U.S.
| introduced = {{start date and age|1965}}
| discontinued =
| related =
| markets =
| previousowners =
| trademarkregistrations =
| ambassadors =
| tagline =
| website =
| module = 
| module1 = 
| footnotes =
}}
'''Quisp''' is a sugar-sweetened [[breakfast cereal]] from the [[Quaker Oats Company]]. It was introduced in 1965 and continued as a mass-market [[grocery]] item until the late 1970s. Subsequently, the Quaker Oats Company marketed Quisp sporadically, and with the advent of the [[Internet]], began selling it primarily online. Quisp made its return to supermarkets as a mass-market [[grocery]] item in late 2012.

Quaker Oats initially marketed Quisp with a companion cereal brand, '''Quake'''. [[Television commercials]] featuring both brands were produced by [[Jay Ward]], the producer of ''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show]]''.

==History==
[[File:Quisp and Quake.jpg|thumb|left|Quisp (left) and Quake characters with boxes of their respective cereals in a TV commercial]]
Quisp and Quake were originally released in 1965 in the [[United States]] by the [[Quaker Oats Company]] and generally advertised together (during the same commercial) with their character mascots competing against each other.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dotz |first1=Warren |last2=Morton |first2=Jim |title=What a Character! 20th Century American Advertising Icons |date=1996 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=0-8118-0936-6 |page=108}}</ref> The ads were [[cartoon]]s created by [[Jay Ward]], who also created the cartoon characters [[Rocky and Bullwinkle]], [[Dudley Do-Right]], [[Hoppity Hooper]] and many others, and the Quisp ads used some of the same voice actors as the ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' series, including [[Daws Butler]] as the voice of Quisp and [[William Conrad]] as the voice of Quake.

In an interview, Ward's creative partner Bill Scott described Ward's involvement in cereal advertising: "When the cereal company approached Jay about doing this stuff — I think it was in 1961 — he said, 'We’ll only do it as long as it’s fun.'"<ref>Scott, in {{cite news | url = http://cartoonician.com/bullwinkle-speaks-an-interview-with-bill-scott/ | title=Bullwinkle Speaks! An Interview With Bill Scott | work=[[Hogan's Alley (comic strip)|Hogan's Alley]]|issue= 17|date= August 2, 2012 | first= Jim | last=Korkis|archive-date=January 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116053534/http://cartoonician.com/bullwinkle-speaks-an-interview-with-bill-scott/ | url-status=live}}</ref>

Quisp was depicted as a diminutive [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] with [[Antenna (biology)|antennae]] that functioned as a propeller enabling him to fly. The Crown Prince of Planet Q, he was dressed in a green [[boilersuit]] with a "Q" belt buckle on his black belt, and, like moon men [[Gidney & Cloyd|Gidney and Cloyd]] of Ward's ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', was armed with a scrooch gun. In contrast, the more "earthy" Quake was portrayed as a tall, musclebound red-headed [[miner]] wearing blue pants, black work-boots, a red t-shirt emblazoned with a blue "Q", a yellow [[miner's helmet]] with a [[Headlamp (outdoor)|headlamp]], a wristband on his right arm, and a purple cape.

The commercials often asked children to choose which cereal was better, and to compete over taste or premiums. The competition reached its peak in 1972, when a series of commercials asked kids to vote for which cereal should remain on the shelves. In 1969, Quake was given a makeover, slimming down and swapping his lighted miner's hard hat for an Australian bush hat and cape.<ref>{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E70QI7m5uqI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/E70QI7m5uqI |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Vintage Quisp & Quake cereal commercial |access-date= November 8, 2012|publisher=YouTube|date=November 29, 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Quisp was the winner and Quake cereal was discontinued, but Quake himself introduced a new sidekick, an orange kangaroo named Simon and a new orange-flavored cereal called Quake's Orange Quangaroos. In 1976, Quaker Oats ran another contest, this time asking children to choose between Quisp and Quangaroos. Quisp won again and Quangaroos was discontinued.<ref name="mrbf" />

Around 1979-80, the Quaker Oats Company discontinued Quisp due to low sales.<ref name="mrbf" /> It was reintroduced in 1985, then again in the 1990s and in 2001, where it was relaunched as the "first [[Internet]] cereal".<ref name="mrbf" /> Consumers were encouraged to visit the Quisp [[Web site]] to view animated endings to cartoons on the back of the cereal box. The online [[Flash animation]] was produced by [[John Kricfalusi]] and [[Spümcø]],{{cn|date=September 2014}} featuring Quisp and his sidekick Quunchy (voiced by [[Corey Burton]] and [[Matt Danner]], respectively).{{cn|date=September 2014}}

Quisp remained in limited distribution for some time, with Quaker Oats distributing the product in "guerrilla displays" that would appear in a store and last until the product sold out.{{cn|date=September 2014}} Even in the late 2010s, it could occasionally be found in grocery and discount chains such as [[Dollar General]], [[Grocery Outlet]], [[Marc's]], [[Target Corporation#SuperTarget|SuperTarget]], and [[Food Lion]].{{cn|date=September 2014}} Quaker Oats also sold Quisp directly to the public through an online store.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quakeroats.elsstore.com/|title=Quaker Oats Online Store|access-date=November 8, 2012|publisher=Quaker Oats Company|year=2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230194209/http://quakeroats.elsstore.com/|archive-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref>

==Description==
Quisp is a baked paste of corn meal and syrup shaped like "[[flying saucers]]". The taste is similar to that of [[Cap'n Crunch]], also made by Quaker Oats. Quake cereal was produced by the same process and ingredients, but shaped like gears.<ref name="mrbf" /><ref name="comm1" /> Packaging as of 2012 carries the tagline on the front panel, "Crunchy Corn Cereal", and on side panels, "QUAZY Energy Cereal".

==Ingredients==
Main ingredients: [[cornmeal|Corn flour]], [[sugar]], [[oat]] flour, [[brown sugar]], [[coconut oil]], [[salt]]. Vitamins and other additives: [[niacinamide]], [[reduced iron]], [[zinc oxide]], [[yellow 5]], [[yellow 6]], [[thiamin]] mononitrate, [[pyridoxine hydrochloride]], [[Butylated hydroxytoluene|BHT]], [[riboflavin]], [[folic acid]].

Quaker Oats also used to offer a [[saucer]]-shaped cereal with identical ingredients in its Bagged Cereals line under the name Quaker Sweet Crunch.<ref name="halloffame" />

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
* <ref name="halloffame">{{cite web |url=http://www.lavasurfer.com/bchof/hof-quisp.html |title=Cerealebrity of the Month: Quisp |publisher=Cereal Hall of Fame |access-date=August 25, 2010 |first=Scott |last=Bruce |first2=Bill |last2=Crawford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924041100/http://www.lavasurfer.com/bchof/hof-quisp.html |archive-date=September 24, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* <ref name="mrbf">{{cite web | first=Eddy|last=Chavey| url = http://mrbreakfast.com/cereal_detail.asp?id=300 | title=Quisp | publisher= MrBreakfast.com|date= August 25, 2010 | archive-date=July 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707113149/http://www.mrbreakfast.com/cereal_detail.asp?id=300 | url-status=live}}</ref>
* <ref name="comm1">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTysWzlOA24 Quake TV commercial] 1966, August 25, 2010</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*Kevin Scott Collier. ''Jay Ward's Animated Cereal Capers''. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017. {{ISBN|1976576849}}

{{PepsiCo}}

[[Category:Products introduced in 1965]]
[[Category:Quaker Oats Company cereals]]
[[Category:Quaker Oats Company characters]]
[[Category:Jay Ward Productions]]
[[Category:Fictional extraterrestrial characters]]
[[Category:Mascots introduced in 1965]]
[[Category:Male characters in animation]]
[[Category:Male characters in advertising]]
[[Category:American mascots]]
[[Category:Cartoon mascots]]
[[Category:Extraterrestrial mascots]]

Quisp - Revision history

2600:8801:861A:F600:5857:A089:C876:7052: Website is defunct