Major Jet
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As you may have guessed by his name, Major Jet was an aviator. A fictional space aviator.
With his first appearance in 1954 – on the front of a box of General Mills Sugar Jets cereal – he became a memorable, smiling character icon.
Perhaps he was aided in this accomplishment by the neato premiums he offered, like the Magic Paint Set Booklets and Sugar Jets Filmo Vision and a Rocket Glider with Launcher. It certainly wasn’t his personality that got him over. After all, he mainly appeared on the corners of premiums and the covers of boxes. And he looked more like Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon than an original character entity.
But a TV ad campaign, starring Roger Pace as Major Jet, seemed to slowly change that. As he urged kids to “Jet Up and Go with Sugar Jets,” sales seemed to gradually rise. Even so, Major Jet was only used until 1955, after which his spokesman duties were usurped by a trio of animated characters – the General Mills Jets (Mr. Moonbird, an exotic bird; Johnny Jet, a kid with a rocket-pack and Goggul the Alien).
