Rare Junk: Promotional Cereal Box


Rare Junk is dedicated to those unintentional, yet completely outlandish discoveries - ultra-rare TMNT items that you’ve never seen listed on eBay or at your local toy show. No action figures, only bizarre merchandise that decades ago found its way into existence.



Breakfast was beautiful. The late 80s birthed one of the greatest gifts to mankind. Better than the internet and more exciting than your smart phone, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal was breakfast bliss. You've likely admired this iconic box before... with its exquisite cartoon artwork, mouth-watering photography featuring the marshmallow-topped cereal & games covering every inch of the packaging. Kids loved it and nostalgic adults still do. It's a happy memory for most and now a prized possession in any fan's collection. But there's something about this particular box I have that makes it a true rarity...



Slide this thing around and the exclusive wackiness reveals itself. 

This box is not meant for kids. 
This box is not meant for the common adult.
This box is meant for... advertisers, wholesalers & cereal insiders?



This box of TMNT Cereal was never on store shelves. It's a sales sample that features the most mundane of information - a schedule for advertising & promotional support; including trade deals, advertising & consumer promotion. Not exactly the type of stuff to fire up a kid's imagination. But as connoisseur of all things cowabunga, it's damn sexy. Forget fun games and activities. Who needs that on their cereal box when you've got an advertising and promotional support schedule? If that doesn't fuel your excitement during breakfast, you might be dead inside.



The box is still sealed. I'm too timid to open it... let that 80s glue keep the mystery locked within. What could be inside this corporate box of bizarre?

Advertising secrets? 
A mystery toy?? 
Triple the amount of marshmallows???



In my lifelong quest for weird Ninja Turtles merch, I had never come across one of these promotional cereal boxes before. Until this one was gifted to me, I never even knew they existed. The strange underbelly of corporate America produced some truly awesome artifacts... and the collector fandom is better for it. 


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