MINNEAPOLIS--General Mills, maker of the popular breakfast cereal
Lucky Charms, announced Tuesday that the morning favorite will
soon become much more lucky with the addition of 16 new colorful
marshmallow shapes, displacing the unpopular oat pieces that have
hampered the cereal's appeal for decades.

"We've been moving toward total marshmallow saturation for quite
some time now, upping the marshmallow-to-oat piece ratio through
the gradual introduction of 'new' marshmallow shapes," said
General Mills vice-president of product development John Stacey.
"We just finally said to ourselves, 'Why put off the
inevitable?'"

In addition to the already-existing marshmallows in the shape of
hearts, stars, moons, clovers, horseshoes, balloons, rainbows,
and pots o' gold, every box of Lucky Charms will now feature 16
brand-new shapes: clubs, spades, treasure chests, crowns, sevens,
bells, planets, coins, suns, smiles, clouds, boats, lightning,
comets, anchors and rings.

"The monochromatic oat pieces in unrecognizable shapes were by
far the least popular part of Lucky Charms," said Terrence
Sweeney of Scarsdale & Loeb Group, the marketing firm handling
the change-over.  "Although when eaten alone, the lightly
frosted, tan-hued oat pieces are quite delicious, when eaten
alongside the explosively sweet marshmallows they seem stale and
cardboard-like."

The ad campaign for the revamped cereal begins next month with a
television commercial featuring "Evil Oaties" gobbling up all the
marshmallows in Lucky Charms. After a bit of leprechaun magic
from "Lucky," the Oaties transform into the brand new marshmallow
shapes before the eyes of delighted children.

"We're already thrilled with the response to the new cereal,"
Sweeney said. "The children in our focus groups responded very
enthusiastically to the new Lucky Charms. In fact, they
immediately asked for more of it, often clinging to the legs of
our testers until they received second and third helpings."

Said Lucky Charms fan Timothy Nordquist, 5, after eating a bowl
of the new cereal: "Nur nur nur nur nur nur nur nur nur nur nur."