A Major Mistake on Cap'n Crunch's Uniform Has Finally Been Fixed

If you grew up in a household that permitted sugary breakfasts every morning (or at least on Saturdays), you've probably spent at least a few good minutes staring into the eyes of seafaring cereal mascot Cap'n Crunch. You may have noticed his iconic white mustache and disembodied eyebrows, his cartoonish bicorne hat, and those fancy epaulets and shiny buttons adorning his double-breasted coat.

But over the years, eagle-eyed cereal munchers have also noticed an important error in the uniform of one Cap'n Horatio Magellan Crunch: The gold stripes on his sleeves are below his rank.

Despite his decades of distinguished service fighting off the dreaded Soggies or sailing into your bowl as part of a balanced breakfast, Cap'n Crunch has been wearing a coat sporting three bars — reserved for the lower rank of commander — instead of the four bars befitting of a captain. In fact, since the character was first created in 1963 by television producer Allan Burns (who also worked on Rocky and Bullwinkle and co-created The Munsters and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, among other credits), Cap'n Crunch's sleeves have varied from depicting him as an ensign (one bar) to lieutenant (two bars), and, presently, commander.

But for the Cap'n's 60th birthday, the folks at The Quaker Oats Company decided it was time to set things right. Starting this month, Cap'n Crunch's uniform is getting a long overdue adjustment on all of the brand's cereal and snack products.

To celebrate this official uniform promotion as well as the Cap'n 60th birthday, last week at San Diego's Comic-Con, 60 cosplayers marched the streets dressed as the Navy man, four bars on each sleeve and all.

"With the celebration of Cap'n Crunch's 60th birthday this year, we thought it was only fitting to commemorate his epic 60 years of tasty adventures with a fresh new look," said Kristin Kroepfl, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quaker Foods North America at PepsiCo. "What better way to unveil the beloved Cap'n Crunch's new four-striped look than with his cosplaying Crunchmates around one of the most iconic pop culture events of the year?!"

Sadly, due to the allure of alliteration, we doubt we'll ever see our beloved Cap'n promoted to Admiral.