Grape-Nuts Commercial Apparently Filmed on Grand Mesa
This 1970s breakfast cereal commercial has been making the rounds this morning on social media. The word on the street is it was filmed on western Colorado's Grand Mesa.
Do you remember Grape-Nuts cereal? If you were alive in the 1970s, you certainly knew about this breakfast choice. The product's commercials ran endlessly on television.
According to the social media page "You Know You're From Grand Junction When....", this was filmed on the Grand Mesa around 1974. The person in the commercial is none other than Euell Gibbons. Who's that? According to Wikipedia, Gibbons was an outdoorsman and early health food advocate, promoting eating wild foods during the 1960s.
Gibbons earned a certain "celebrity" status, catching the attention of stars such as Johnny Carson and Sonny and Cher. He even made a name for himself in pop culture, given musical recognition by acts like the band, Grandpa's Become a Fungus.
It seems he really was quite popular. The singer Larry Groce mentioned Euell Gibbons in his classic song "Junk Food Junkie."
Looking at the comments on the social media post, it seems there is some evidence to support the belief this commercial was filmed on the Grand Mesa. One comment states that Euell Gibbons stayed at Grand Junction's Bar X Motel during filming.
Go behind the scenes of the commercial with the documentary Stalking the Wild Cranberry: the Making of a TV Commercial.
There you go, another Western Colorado claim to fame. Our pride and joy, the Grand Mesa, was featured in a Grape-Nuts commercial.