Lucky Charms’ Fun Facts and Commercials

Mar 17, 2009

Lucky Charms has been a shameless part of my St. Patrick’s Day celebrating since I was a kid. As I poured myself a heaping bowl this morning, I thought I would throw together a collection of some interesting facts about the most magically delicious cereal (along with my favorite commercials, of course).

Fun Facts

The spokes-leprechaun who is now known as “Lucky the Leprechaun” or sometimes as “Sir Charms” was originally called L.C. Leprechaun.
Lucky was created the year that the cereal was conceived, 1963.
Lucky Charms were invented in 1963 by Paul Bunyon. He was a new project manager who answered General Mill’s call to find out what to do with their abundance of Cheerios. Bunyon’s idea was to mix Cheerios with chopped up Kraft Circus Peanuts.
Lucky Charms were not originally sugar-coated. At launch, they got their sweetness from the marshmallows. When the cereal underperformed, they just added sugar – sales quickly increased.
The Lucky Charms’ marshmallows are referred to as Marbits by the folks at General Mills. Marbits were invented by John Holahan in 1963
Actor Arthur Anderson was the voice of Lucky from 1963-1992.
The first Lucky Charms’ commercial was made by Bill Melendez of Peanuts fame.
In 1975, Lucky was replaced briefly by Waldo the Wizard. Public outcry returned Lucky to his rightful place as spokes-leprechaun.

The Marshmallow Line-Up

When Lucky Charms was launched, it had 4 marshmallow (marbit) shapes. They were pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers. The lineup has changed often over the years, with marshmallow sizes and colors changing frequently. Here is a list of when certain marbits made their first appearances: