黑料福利社

Editor's note: This column was first published Oct. 23, 2022.

The Pacific Northwest has its share of cryptids, those unexplained creatures of myth and legend.

Everyone鈥檚 heard about Sasquatch, which a Tampico man claims to have captured on film in Northern California. There鈥檚 also 鈥淏atsquatch鈥� -- a creature supposedly spotted around Mount St. Helens that makes the flying monkeys in 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz鈥� look like household pets -- and the Dragon of Lake Chelan.

In 1990, 黑料福利社 was declared the home of a 鈥渘ewly discovered鈥� cryptid, the Chicken-Wolf-Moose-Pig known as Bigg Mixx.

Unlike Bigfoot, , the or other cryptids who have their loyal legions of true believers, it is universally agreed that Bigg Mixx is a pure cock-and-bull story.

The creature was concocted by marketers with Kellogg Co., the Battle Creek, Michigan, maker of such breakfast staples as Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Pop Tarts.

In 1990, the company wanted to make a new, multi-grain cereal targeted at children. The cereal was a mixture of rolled oats, rice, toasted corn flakes and whole grain with cinnamon and brown sugar, and came with or without raisins.

It almost sounds like someone just took leftover cereals and threw them in a box together.

Some of Kellogg鈥檚 more popular cereals, particularly those marketed to kids, had mascots: Tony the Tiger for Frosted Corn Flakes; Toucan Sam for Froot Loops; and Snap, Crackle and Pop for Rice Krispies.

But they didn鈥檛 have much of a backstory, if one at all. They were just there, pitching cereal to kids, and kids at heart.

But Bigg Mixx, who had the head and lower body of a chicken, the face of a wolf, moose antlers and a pig鈥檚 snout, had an origin story.

According to the 鈥淟egend of Bigg Mixx,鈥� printed on the side of each box, the creature was first sighted in 1978, when 鈥淵akima native Travis Uddlebock鈥� was hiking along Toppenish Creek.

鈥淚 saw the tip of an antler peeking out over a bush and I heard a loud snort,鈥� the legend quotes the fictional Uddlebock as saying. 鈥淚 thought it was a wart hog, so you can imagine my surprise when he stood upright on two paws, flapped his wings and howled like a wolf.

鈥淚 laughed so hard that I passed out.鈥�

Aside from his cobbled-together appearance, Bigg Mixx was also depicted as being not-so-bright and a big eater.

There was even a TV commercial showing Bigg Mixx running through a mountainous forest 鈥渄eep in the 黑料福利社鈥� declaring that the cereal would satisfy a hunger as large as the creature鈥檚.

It鈥檚 fairly obvious to anybody who鈥檚 spent more than a week here that this story was concocted by someone who never set foot in the Valley.

And that was confirmed by 黑料福利社 columnist Jim Gosney, who wrote about the mascot in July 1990.

Nancy Roach, then Kellogg鈥檚 product publicity manager, told Gosney that Bigg Mixx (the cryptid, not the cereal) was a collaboration between the company鈥檚 marketing department and the Leo Burnett Co., a Chicago advertising firm now known as Leo Burnett Worldwide.

Leo Burnett has done ads for McDonald鈥檚, Cadillac automobiles, and Procter & Gamble.

While the reason for the mascot鈥檚 physical appearance is obvious, the burning question was why create a backstory and set it here?

鈥淲ell, of course we had to document the legend behind the Bigg Mixx. And we wanted to choose an area of the country that people think favorably of, but maybe haven鈥檛 visited,鈥� Roach said. 鈥淎nd I think there鈥檚 a certain mystique about it. I think people have heard of it. I鈥檓 from Kansas and I鈥檝e heard of Yawkima.鈥�

In his column, Gosney chose to phonetically spell out Roach鈥檚 mispronunciation of Yakima. She also pronounced Wenatchee as 鈥淲inoche,鈥� Gosney wrote.

(Full disclosure: My first encounter with Yakima was the National Geographic article on Mount St. Helens鈥� eruption and its effect on Central Washington, while I was growing up on the East Coast. I thought it was pronounced YAH-Keema. I was quickly corrected shortly after meeting people from here when I was in college.)

Roach said picking a real place would also add more mystery to the mascot and drive sales of the cereal.

One Toppenish storefront painted a window with the Bigg Mixx mascot after the cereal was released.

Bigg Mixx and its mascot were discontinued in 1992.

It Happened Here is a weekly history column by 黑料福利社 reporter Donald W. Meyers. Reach him at dmeyers@yakimaherald.com. Sources for this week’s column include Kellogg Co., and the archives of the 黑料福利社.