Coco Pops (known as Cocoa Krispies in the United States) is a breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's. It is a cocoa-flavoured version of Rice Krispies. Containing a substance imitating milk chocolate, the cereal can quickly turn milk "chocolatey." The cereal was introduced in the United States in 1958. The famous coco-pop monkey mascot was first played by Tom Ronan in the early 90s. Coco also has friends and enemies. Shortie Giraffe, Heftie Hippo, Osmelda Ostrich and Kylie Kangeroo are his good friends while Crafty Croc and the gorillas are his arch-enemies and are always trying to steal the Coco Pops.

United States

In the United States, the cereal was renamed Cocoa Rice Krispies in 2003 as Kellogg's endeavoured to unite their Rice Krispies variations under a single marketing schema. In 2006, the name was returned to Cocoa Krispies. However, Coco the Monkey has not returned on US packaging, and Rice Krispie mascots Snap, Crackle, and Pop also adorn the label of Cocoa Krispies.

Other markets

Several spin-off cereals using the "Coco Pops" name, such as Coco Pops Crunchers, Coco Rocks, Coco Pops Straws, Coco Pop End of Bowl Milkshakes and Coco Pops Mega Munchers have also been released by Kellogg's in some countries. A variety pack of Coco Pops, Coco Pops Crunchers, Coco Rocks and Coco Pops Mega Munchers has been released under the name of Coco Pops Creations, marketed as a pic'n'mix style breakfast cereal, where the consumer can create their own cereal using the four options. Recently a new cereal under the Coco Pops range called Coco pops Moon & Stars ,basically some of the rice cripsys multigrain range in chocolate.

The cereal is known as Coco Pops in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Bulgaria, Malta, New Zealand, Ireland, Finland, Italy, Greece, Israel, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Australia and Sweden. It was briefly renamed in 1998 to Choco Krispies in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and South Africa to be in line with Germany and Spain, where it is known by this name. However after falling sales and a telephone poll in which the British public voted, its name was reverted in 1999. In Australia and New Zealand, the advertising slogan "Just Like a Chocolate Milkshake, only Crunchy" is used, while in the United Kingdom there are 4 slogans, the most widely used being "I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops", while the other three are "Coco Pops and milk make a bowlful of fun", "come on kids lets scoff up these coco pops". In these countries Coco the Monkey remains the mascot.

Nutritional value

Kellogg's Coco Pops were described as "the children's breakfast cereal that children most want to eat, but which parents would prefer that they didn't" by a parent's jury on the Food Commission This ranking was achieved due to a level of added sugar approaching 40%, second only to Froot Loops followed up by Nutri-Grain and the promotion of chocolate as a breakfast food.

Coco Pops slogans

• "Just like a chocolate milkshake, only crunchy!"
• "Nothing tops Kellogg's Coco Pops, Kellogg's Coco Pops!" (UK)
• "We'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops" (UK)
• "Coco Pops and milk make a bowlful of fun" (UK)
• "Coco Pops Crunchers - Can you handle the crunch?" (UK)
• "New Coco Pops Creations make a bowlful of fun" (UK)
• "Coco Pops make milk go choc!"

Russell Brand & Matt Morgan frequently mention Coco Pops as they use the slogan as a call and response to check time delay on BBC Radio 2.