It should be no surprise that Star Wars has had its fair share of cereal promotions -- to date, there have been somewhere around 1,400 different Star Wars-related cereal boxes released worldwide. Each movie in the saga (including the Special Editions) as well as The Clone Wars TV series and multi-media extravaganza Shadows of the Empire have all been featured on cereal boxes from South Africa to South Korea. With around 50 different Star Wars cereal boxes tied to the first film alone, you'd think there would have been even more cereal tie-ins designed to bring that "galaxy far, far away" to the breakfast table for Empire, right?
Actually, licensees and promotional partners did not consider a sequel to Star Wars a sure thing despite the staggering success of the original film. As a result, only one Empire Strikes Back cereal tie-in was promoted on the planet, a little-known campaign from The Land Down Under.
Kellogg's in Australia was willing to take a chance on Empire, releasing a set of eight different cut-out masks on the backs of Corn Flakes cereal boxes: Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, "Bounty Hunter", and C-3PO on the 500g size boxes, and Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Chewbacca, and Yoda on the 750g size. By far the most notable of these is the "Bounty Hunter," a mysterious lizard-like face which looks like it would be more at home on a Saturday morning cartoon than in a Star Wars film. We're guessing this is supposed to be Bossk, which is an interesting choice given the mere seconds of screen time the character saw in the film.
As is often the case with old food packaging, finding these boxes today is next to impossible, as they are some of the rarest Star Wars cereal boxes in the world. Evidently all the Aussie fans cut-up their boxes to enjoy hours (or minutes) of fun parading around the house as their favorite Star Wars character. Sorry girls, Princess Leia apparently got bumped to accommodate the more vocal Bossk cabal (I imagine world-famous Bossk collector Mary Franklin approves).
If the mask was not enough to entice consumers to purchase the specially-marked boxes of Corn Flakes, Kellogg's placed Star Wars-themed recipes on the side panels with appetizingly alliterated names such as "Skywalker Scrunchies" and "Yoda Yummies." The box proudly proclaims there are eight recipes to collect. Just what I need...something else to collect!
Check out our previous coverage of Kellogg's Star Wars-related collectibles, and also take a peek at Gus and Duncan's Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles, available exclusively online.
