Advertising / Trix Rabbit

"Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

— The kids in most commercials.

General Mills' cereal Trix is known for its fruity taste. It is also known for its commercial campaigns, which involve the cereal mascot, the Trix Rabbit, in his myriad schemes to get his hands on the titular Trix cereal from a couple of kids. He almost invariably fails, because "Trix are for kids!" It has become sort of a Running Gag.

One of the most notable of the cereal commercials and one that usually comes to people's minds whenever the topic is being brought up.

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Trix Rabbit provides examples of:

• Adjacent to This Complete Breakfast: Like several other examples of sugar-filled cereals, past commercials have shown a box and bowl of Trix sitting alongside healthier breakfast alternatives as the announcer says "Part of a complete breakfast."
• All Just a Dream: One commercial in The '80s focused on the rabbit having a dream where the kids purposefully give him the cereal. Then, one of the Fruitalicious Swirls commercials featured the rabbit making his escape with a box of the cereal in a lowering contraption only for the kids to take the cereal from his dream bubble.
• All There in the Script: Two of the kids (Gabby and Brad) featured in the mid-2010's iteration of the ads only had their names mentioned in the closed captioning.
• Bait-and-Switch: One noteworthy commercial has a human (played by Harland Williams) go out and buy a box of Trix. When he gets home, he removes his costume to reveal that he’s actually the Trix Rabbit. Unfortunately for him, he discovers he has run out of milk, revealing the ad to be one for "Got Milk?" instead of Trix.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Some of the Rabbit's disguises fall into this category. One commercial from 2006 shows him wearing a white laboratory coat that goes to his knees, but no shoes.
• Butt-Monkey: Butt Rabbit, undeniably. He almost never achieves his goal, and he has many misadventures in the process.
• Cereal Vice Reward: There really is no rationale for the children in these commercials to deny the rabbit Trix. It's obvious they're just being selfish brats who get sadistic glee out of seeing him not get any, and they're never punished for their behavior. This commercial in fact provides the page image for the trope, and is one of the best-known examples.
• Character Catchphrase: "Raspberry red, lemony yellow, orangey orange!" (In former days, "Raspberry red, lemon yellow, orange orange!"). The rabbit often rapturously describes the cereal using this phrase.
• Commercial Switcheroo: In one Trix commercial from the mid-'90s, the Trix Rabbit disguises himself as a human and actually manages to obtain a box of Trix. He then goes to the fridge to put milk on it and discovers that he doesn't have any. Turns out it's a "Got Milk?" commercial.
• Disembodied Eyebrows: More obviously noticeable at some times than others depending on which angle he is shown from, but the rabbit's eyebrows normally float above his head (as in the page picture example).
• Does Not Like Spam: The rabbit, as he expresses in very early commercials, does not like carrots like a regular rabbit and prefers Trix over them.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Goal: Eat a bowl of Trix. Despite many, many attempts, this is only achieved when the company holds a vote, and the voters overwhelmingly support giving the rabbit some damn Trix. In an early commercial, he actually did get a bite of Trix here. Of course, it doesn't help that he gets the Trix and then proceeds to dance around singing about the flavors, giving the kids plenty of time to steal it back. Trix used to have the Trix Vote every presidential Election year. Trix Rabbit won in 1972, 1980, and 1996, though the election hasn’t been held since. One commercial was outright cruel about it, as the Rabbit DOES get a bowl of Trix at one point — but as he goes to pour the milk, he discovers the carton is empty, revealing that this is an ad for "Got Milk?"
• Fantastic Racism: An unintentional example: the whole reason the kids give for not letting the rabbit have any Trix is simply because he is a rabbit and "Trix are for kids", which comes across as a pretty lame excuse. Imagine if someone in real life said "(some food here) is only for white people."
• Four-Fingered Hands: In the animated commercials for this cereal, both the rabbit and the kids invariably have only four fingers.
• Friendly Enemy: In one commercial made to promote new Trix friendship bracelets, the kids tell the rabbit that even though he can not have Trix, they can still be friends, giving him one of the bracelets.
• Full-Body Disguise: In the infamous 1995 Got Milk? commercial, the rabbit wears a very convincing human body suit. It's even more amazing when you know that he is a cartoon rabbit disguised as a live-action person.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: At least one back-of-the-box game for Trix cereal (from when the fruity shapes were brought back to the States) shows the Trix Rabbit celebrating its return with the kids he usually tries to steal the cereal from.
• Halloween Cosplay: On the back of 2017 Monster Cereals boxes, depicting various General Mills mascots dressing as the monsters, the Rabbit dons a Count Chocula costume.
• His Own Worst Enemy: In most of the commercials, the rabbit's disguises fool the kids and they allow him to have some Trix, only for the rabbit's love of the cereal to cause him to prematurely celebrate and blow his cover, resulting in the kids taking it back before he can eat any.
• Hypno Fool: In one commercial, the rabbit tries hypnosis to get over his Trix obsession. Later commercials show that this was all a trick to be left alone in a room full of Trix.
• Hypno Pendulum: In the commercial where a therapist hypnotizes the rabbit, he uses a pocket watch to do so.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: One commercial had multiple disguised rabbits aboard a train. The real Trix Rabbit is the one among them who steals all the Trix aboard. A second commercial reveals that the rabbit was disguised as the ticket lady. But then who were all the other rabbits that look just like him?
• Invisibility Ink: In one commercial, the rabbit uses vanishing cream to make himself invisible, hoping to get all the Trix he wants.
• Jerkass to One: In all these commercials, the kids gang up on the Trix Rabbit to make sure he doesn't get any cereal. This is far more prevalent with the animated kids than the live action ones, who do at least show a little more sympathy in comparison.
• Karma Houdini: The children who repeatedly refuse to let the rabbit have any Trix never suffer any consequences for their actions. Seriously, it's understandable if the viewer might wish their parents were there to punish the selfish kids. Even when adults give the rabbit the cereal, the kids immediately take it from him with zero intervention.
• Kick the Dog: In one commercial, the rabbit enters an ice skating competition, with the prize being a trophy with a box of Trix in it. The rabbit gracefully performs with astounding skill and wins fair and square, only for the kids to show up and flat out steal his rightfully earned box of Trix and his trophy.
• Kids Are Cruel: The kids sometimes even take Trix from the rabbit after he has bought or won it.
• Leaving Food for Santa: One Trix cereal commercial in The '90s features kids leaving a bowl of Trix for Santa. After they go to bed, the Trix Rabbit, disguised as Santa, comes in and is about to eat the cereal himself. But then the real Santa shows up and the rabbit gives him the bowl without hesitation.
• Mind-Control Eyes: The rabbit presents with swirling spiral eyes in the commercial where he asks to be hypnotized. It turns out they were fake.
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: The rabbit never tries to simply reuse a tactic and alter it to avoid whatever went wrong the last time. A notable example is the Got Milk? commercial. The only reason his plan in that scenario did not work was because he did not have milk for his Trix. He could simply do the same thing a second time and just be sure to buy milk the second time, yet he never tries this again.
• No Name Given: The rabbit was never given a real name. One commercial lampshaded this by having him dress up as an adult to ask for Trix from kids only for them to ask him his name. A contest was held to choose one for him, with viewers submitting suggestions. However, this turned out to be meaningless; the follow up commercial did have someone hand the rabbit his winning name on a piece of paper — but the viewers never see it, and the rabbit blows his cover before he can use it.
• Obsessive Spokesperson: The rabbit has resorted to many life-risking Zany Schemes just to eat a bite of Trix Cereal. Ironically, he often ruins the chance to eat some because he goes crazy thinking about how good the cereal tastes and blows his cover.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The rabbit often tries to disguise himself to get Trix — and with a few exceptions, it's normally obvious who he is. For example, his attempts to pass himself off as a balloon vendor or house painter see him plant a hat on his head and do nothing else.
• Parody: A genre in and of itself; there are plenty of parodies of the Trix commercials, usually involving the rabbit getting his long-deserved revenge. Some examples include:
  • This video depicts the rabbit failing as usual. It starts to deviate from the norm when one of the kids elbows the rabbit in the stomach, finally causing the rabbit to call them out. His mental state deteriorates from there, until he murders both kids and declares Trix to be for rabbits. It is incredibly satisfying.
  • In a cutaway gag from the Family Guy episode "Breaking Out is Hard to Do", an advertisement for Asian Trix during Sumo Tonight shows an Asian version of the rabbit who, after being told the familiar phrase, shouts "YOU SHARE!" He proceeds to knock two of the kids out and snaps the third kid's neck before running off with the Trix.
  • This short Flash animation shows the aftermath of the rabbit's revenge. Among the atrocities he commits include setting a kid on fire (who is still on fire and screaming), hanging and tying some kids to a tree, and doing something unspecified to some more kids (who looks suspiciously like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. This last example spawned jokes in the comment section that Hobbes attacked the rabbit after the video ended). While this is being shown, the rabbit is sitting on a stump eating a bowl of Trix, unfazed by what he did.
  • The rabbit also appears in the infamous Green Jellÿ song "Cereal Killer" as the first victim of Toucan Son of Sam. Sam yells the familiar phrase before knocking his head off in an over-the-top gory fashion.
  • The SuperMarioLogan episode "Fountain of Youth!" reveals that "Trix are for kids" is not just a tagline, it is a very strict law that the police waste no time in enforcing. Not even adults can legally eat Trix in this world.
  • The Powerpuff Girls comic book story "Steal a Meal" had Him using three cartoon cereal mascots to steal all the cereal in Townsville. One of them was a brown ragged rabbit, named Dumb Bunny.
  • Speaking of The Powerpuff Girls, the episode "Jewel of the Aisle" features an Expy of the Rabbit (as well as Lucky Charms' Lucky the Leprechaun and Captain Crunch's titular character) in the form of Lucky Captain Rabbit King. When he fails to take the cereal (Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets), the kids will say, "Ridiculous Lucky Captain Rabbit King, Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets are for the youth!" There he manages to finally get the cereal after many failed schemes by bursting into tears pleading that all he wanted was a bowl of cereal, causing the girls to give him some out of sympathy.
• Phrase Catcher: When the rabbit is denied cereal, the kids invariably say "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" to him.
• Rube Goldberg Machine: The rabbit tries to build a crazy contraption to make his own Trix in one commercial, but accidentally sets it to "Chewy" (rather than "Crunchy") and makes Trix Bubble Gum. (Which became a Free Prize at the Bottom.)
• Simple Solution Won't Work: It does not matters if the rabbit purchased the cereal with his own money, the kids will take it away from him anyway.
• Special Guest: One two-part commercial has Bugs Bunny show up to help the Trix Rabbit, the former being upset that the cereal has no carrot flavor bits. Unfortunately, Bugs' plan is just as flawed as all the Trix Rabbit's, in contrast to his usually well-engineered schemes against his adversaries. To further rub it in, Bugs is actually shown enjoying a bowl at the end of the second part while the Trix Rabbit remains Trixless.
  Bugs: I prefer a happy ending.
• Team Rocket Wins: On extremely rare occasions, the rabbit actually manages to get the Trix cereal.
  • Most notably, a commercial depicted the rabbit participating in a bicycle race with a bowl of Trix as the prize. He managed to win by using his floppy ears as wind sails to gain more speed. The cartoon judges of the race then are split. One judge says that the Trix rabbit won, so he should get the cereal because it is only fair. The other judge says "Trix are for kids," which supersedes all other considerations and the Rabbit should be denied the Trix. A vote was held where kids could send in a cereal boxtop with "yes, give the rabbit the Trix" or "no, don't give the rabbit the Trix" as their choice for how the dilemma would be resolved in a future commercial (supposedly). The eventual follow up commercial did not include actual numbers for each vote, but it was reported that the "yes" vote won. The rabbit got the Trix, but it was specified that it was only for one time.
    Judge 1: The kids voted, "YES"!
    Judge 2: Just this once.
  • In an older commercial, the rabbit actually manages to eat a spoonful of Trix — but his disguise is ruined when he celebrates too exuberantly and the kids take the rest of the cereal from him. Only for it to reveal it was a decoy the whole time and the rabbit actually gets the cereal as the commercial ends.
    Kid: It's the rabbit, and he ate some Trix! Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!
    Rabbit: And sometimes for tricky rabbits!
  • They also used to hold an 'election' in the same years as the US presidential election (1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988), but since the Rabbit won in every election, they stopped doing it. Real kids are not as cruel as the ones in the commercial, and were more than happy to give the rabbit his Trix.
• Took a Level in Badass: By 2014, the rabbit somehow gained the ability of Voluntary Shapeshifting.
• The Trickster: The rabbit is very tricky, and his main way to get his hands on the cereal is to put on a disguise.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: No, really. In the 2014 commercial celebrating the cereal's 60th anniversary, the rabbit shapeshifts into a kitten to sneak in only to be informed that the party is for rabbits.
• White Bunny: Like many fictional examples, the Trix Rabbit is stereotypically pure white.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The rabbit guest stars in one commercial where he uses what is perhaps his best disguise to finally get a box of Trix and retreats to his apartment. Unfortunately, before he can chow down, he discovers to his dismay that he's out of milk.

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