Among the many breakfast cereals with mascots, Cookie Crisp is notable for changing its main one along its timeline.
When the cereal was first made, its advertisements featured a wizard known as Cookie Jarvis. However, Jarvis didn't catch on very well. When Jarvis was feature with a character named Cookie Crook, the secondary character proved so popular that Jarvis was dropped and Cookie Crook was made the cereal's new mascot alongside a cop named Officer Crumb.
In an effort to give the cereal mascots more appeal, Cookie Crook was given an animal companion named Chip, who would frequently mess up their heists by howling "COOKIE CRISP" which would become a part of all future ads for the cereal.
With Chip's popularity on heavy rise, Cookie Crook and Officer Crumb were eventually dropped as well with the commercials going from Chip trying to steal the cereal to Chip convincing grown ups to allow kids to eat the cereal.
Eventually though, it was decided that Chip needed to be completely remade. The result was chip being turned from a beagle to a wolf wearing a red jacket. Now the premise was back to Chip trying to steal Cookie Crisp, only this time, he was trying to steal it directly from kids in a way similar to Trix Rabbit. This is the mascot that they ultimately stuck with, although Chip has since lost the jacket.
The mascots of Cookie Crisp have provided examples of:
- Abandoned Mascot: Among the most notable as up until Chip the Wolf, none of the mascots Cookie Crisp had ever stuck around.
- Acme Products: When Chip became a wolf, he started trying to steal Cookie Crisp using various inventions, only for none of them to work in his favor.
- Breakout Character: When Cookie Crook was introduced, he instantly became popular with fans of the cereal and soon became mascot of the cereal alongside Officer Crumb. Then, when Chip was introduced, he exceeeded both in popularity and ended up becoming the sole mascot himself.
- Cereal Vice Reward: All the ads with Cookie Crook have him trying to steal the cereal. Although the earlier ads with Officer Crumb have him tricking Crumb and getting away with it, later ads have him and Chip getting punished for it. After both Cookie Crook and Officer Crumb were dropped and Chip was changed to a wolf, the ads were closer to the Trix Rabbit in format, with Chip failing to get the cereal from children.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Once Cookie Crook and Officer Crumb were introduced, Cookie Jarvis was never seen again. In the same manner, Cookie Crook disappeared after it was decided to have Chip be a mascot without him with Officer Crumb following after only one more commercial with Chip.
- Disguised in Drag: One commercial featured Cookie Crook disguising himself and Chip as a woman and her baby to trick Officer Crumb into feeding Chip the cereal.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Chip was first introduced as a beagle working for Cookie Crook before becoming a mascot on his own, ditching the burglar mask. Then he became a wolf wearing a red jacket. Eventually, he lost the jacket as well. However, he keeps his red jacket in western european market whereas in north african countries, he's a big cat instead of a wolf.
- The Dog Bites Back: After spending so many commercials failing to get Cookie Crisp, Chip finally gets back at Officer Crumb in the final commercial featuring the latter by deflating his police hovercraft.
- Holiday Pardon: In one holiday themed commercial Cookie Crook and Chip attempt their usual heist for the cereal only to crash into Officer Crumb's house. While Officer Crumb points out how foolish they are, he also decides to let them have some Cookie Crisp due to it being Christmas.
- Officer O'Hara: Officer Crumb originally had an Irish accent, which was phased out over time.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: One commercial featured Cookie Crook trying to trick Officer Crumb into feeding Chip dressed as a baby. But clearly, he sees through their little trick and performs an Aside Glance when he agrees to babysit.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Old Cookie Crisp commercials, which replaced the ones about their old mascot, Cookie Jarvis, had Officer Crumb chasing after the Cookie Crook and Chip the Dog for stealing Cookie Crisp. He never succeeded... until they changed the commercials to have Officer Crumb catch them in the end. Later the Cookie Crook and Chip the Dog were scrapped entirely for Chip the Wolf.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the last commercial featuring Officer Crumb, he went from promoting the cereal and protecting it from Cookie Crook and Chip to outright taking it away from kids when Chip shares it with them.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After Chip became the sole mascot of Cookie Crisp in the late 1990s', he went from a thieving pet wanting to steal Cookie Crisp to a Big Friendly Dog who wanted to share the deliciousness of the cereal.
- Vocal Evolution: When Chip was introduced to the commercials, Officer Crumb's voice got somewhat deeper and slightly lost his Irish accent. Once General Mills bought the cereal, his voice got even deeper and the accent was dropped entirely.
