Quisp and Quake were originally released in 1965 in the
United States by the
Quaker Oats Company and generally advertised together (during the same commercial) with their character mascots competing against each other. The ads were
cartoons created by
Jay Ward, who also created the cartoon characters
Rocky and Bullwinkle,
Dudley Do-Right,
Hoppity Hooper and many others, and the Quisp ads used some of the same voice actors as the
Rocky and Bullwinkle series, including
Daws Butler as the voice of Quisp and
William Conrad as the voice of Quake. In an interview, Ward's creative partner Bill Scott described Ward's involvement in cereal advertising: "When the cereal company approached Jay about doing this stuff — I think it was in 1961 — he said, 'We’ll only do it as long as it’s fun.'" Quisp was depicted as a diminutive
alien with
antennae that functioned as a propeller enabling him to fly. The Crown Prince of Planet Q, he was dressed in a green
boilersuit with a "Q" belt buckle on his black belt, and, like moon men
Gidney and Cloyd of Ward's
Rocky and Bullwinkle, was armed with a scrooch gun. In contrast, the more "earthy" Quake was portrayed as a tall, musclebound red-headed
miner wearing blue pants, black work-boots, a red t-shirt emblazoned with a blue "Q", a yellow
miner's helmet with a
headlamp, a wristband on his right arm, and a purple cape. The commercials often asked children to choose which cereal was better, and to compete over taste or premiums. The competition reached its peak in 1972, when a series of commercials asked kids to vote for which cereal should remain on the shelves. In 1969, Quake was given a makeover, slimming down and swapping his lighted miner's hard hat for an Australian bush hat and cape. Quisp was the winner and Quake cereal was discontinued, but Quake himself introduced a new sidekick, an orange kangaroo named Simon and a new orange-flavored cereal called Quake's Orange Quangaroos. In 1976, Quaker Oats ran another contest, this time asking children to choose between Quisp and Quangaroos. Quisp won again and Quangaroos was discontinued. ==Description==