Honey Nut Cheerios is a flavor and spin-off brand of Cheerios breakfast cereal, introduced in 1979 by General Mills. As the first spin-off brand from Cheerios, it is sweeter than the original, with a honey and almond flavor.
Mascot and promotions
Their mascot is an anthropomorphic cartoon bee, named BuzzBee (currently voiced by Billy West of Futurama fame). Commercials for the product have been a mainstay of Saturday morning cartoon programming for many years. They generally depict the mascot tempting a hapless child or adult with a sparkling bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, and their attempts to compete for it.
Historically, Honey Nut Cheerios has participated in much the same promotional advertising as the original brand, while collaborating with the field of NASCAR, and especially driver Bill Lester in promoting healthy diets and the raising awareness of the risk of heart disease.
Health appeal
Honey Nut Cheerios maintains much of the same health appeal of the original Cheerios, due to its soluble fiber. This has been linked to the ability to lower cholesterol. and as with Cheerios, the American Heart Association certified the cereal as "heart-healthy" for meeting the food criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol content.