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Tony the tiger thumb

Tony the Tiger is the mascot for the Kellog's cereal Frosted Flakes. Tony the Tiger's catchphrase is "They're Grrreat" which is spelled out on the box just as it appears here.

Originally Tony competed against three other potential mascots for Frosted Flakes. Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu (a gnu is pretty much the same thing as a wildebeest) were the his competition. Within a year the other three were dropped (Katy being the only one to actually appear on a cereal box) and Tony was given a son, Tony Jr. and became a major cereal icon.

Tony's life was expanded upon in the 1970s he was given an Italian American nationality and more of Tony's family was introduced. His family included his mother Momma Tony, his wife Mrs. Tony and his daughter Antoinette. Due to his given nationality Tony was very popular with the young Italian Americans and it showed in 1974 when they named him the "tiger of the year". Leading to an advertising campaign taken from the Chinese Lunar Calendar being launched the advertisement stated "This is the year of the tiger and Tony is the tiger of the year."

Due to Tony's success his son Tony Jr. was given his own (short-lived) cereal Frosted Rice in 1975. Jr. made a return in 200 replacing his father as the official mascot of the cereal.

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