International Home Foods Inc.: I Want My Maypo campaign
Marshall YatesOverview
The Maltex Company of Burlington, Vermont, marketed Maltex cereal, a combination of toasted wheat and malted barley, for years. It developed Maypo maple-flavored hot oat cereal in 1950, but sales remained minuscule in comparison to its competitors. At the time of the "I Want My Maypo" ad, Maltex became a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Heublein Inc. Given the poor sales record of Maypo—grocery chains discontinued it—Heublein was at a crossroads. "Maypo was pushed, at various times, in every existing advertising medium other than spot TV—without success, " noted...