Raisin Bran Sunglasses

Uncovering the Secrets of the Raisin Bran Logo & The Mandela Effect

In a previous article, I mentioned a phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect. In this article, I mentioned how people misremember a scene in the 1983 classic Risky Business where Tom Cruise danced around. In this instance, hundreds of people clearly remember Cruise’s character wearing his famed Wayfarer Sunglasses, yet in actuality, he never actually wore them – how does that happen? This psychological abnormality is named after a similar Nelson Mandela, where the phenomenon was first discovered after many people remembered Mandela dying in prison. Whether it’s Nelson Mandela or Tom Cruise, it’s clear that these collective false memories that masses of people remember can’t simply be a coincidence – can they? 

I was browsing through the Subreddit /r/MandelaEffect, when I stumbled across an instance of this happening on a beloved breakfast cereal one I used to have myself as a child. I’m of course talking about Raisin Bran. In this thread, people were discussing remembering the mascot Raisin Bran Sun distinctively wearing a pair of sunglasses – one which I remember as well. The collective memory seems to stem from the late 80s early 90s when most people seem to believe the Raisin Bran Sun wore these sunglasses in a range of commercials at the time. But today, no instance online, photographs or images appear showing the sun wearing any sunglasses at all. In this article, we’re going to discuss the Raisin Bran Sunglasses and see if we can get to the bottom of whether he did, or didn’t ever wear a pair of shades. 

Raisin Bran Sunglasses: What We Know So Far…

When it comes to discovering evidence that the Raisin Bran Sun ever wore sunglasses the aforementioned Reddit thread from 2018 is a gold mine of information and speculation about any evidence we have. One user explicitly states he knows, with confidence, that the Rinasin Bran Sun wore sunglasses he said, I quote, ‘’Yes because they were made from California raisins. This was super cool to me as a kid growing up in California’’. Another user said that he remembered the sunglasses as far back as the 1960s, although on finding an old commercial on YouTube (see above) he was shocked to see that no sunglasses were to be found. Others continued the confusion suggesting that they had seen it more recently as early as the early to mid-2000s. 

That being said, some people were not convinced that The Raisin Bran Sun even had sunglasses. After all, no evidence to suggest he ever did. Some thought about various reasons as to why the misconception could have come about. Let’s dig into the evidence we have so far.

Raisin Bran Sunglasses: Understanding the Misconception

So after a bit of research, I started to piece together various reasons why people could have misremembered the Raisin Bran Sun. After searching the internet, Reddit, and other places (I even asked my own mom) it’s clear that the misconception that the Raisin Bran Sun ever wore sunglasses potentially comes from three distinct sources. These include:

California Raisins: Remember these Rhythm and Blues Raisins? They were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s and comprised of singing raisins. Along with releasing a range of music, they were also commonly found in a variety of advertisements including Raisin Bran. It just so happens that California Raisins characters wore sunglasses so it wouldn’t be farfetched to say that people have confused these Raisins with the Sun in the branding on the cereal. 

Family Guy: In a short sketch on a family guy episode a scene showcases the Raisin Bran sun dumping a bunch of raisins from the sky (scene can be watched here). Again, it just so happens that this sketch portrayed the Sun wearing sunglasses. A coincidence, or did the animators also think the Raisin Bran Sun also wore sunglasses?

Cereal Box Toys: It seems at some point, Raisin Bran offered a promotion where people could mail in to receive a free pair of RearView Sunglasses (as seen in the blurry image below). Someone from 2001 in a forum said this about the promotion: ‘’Oh, I almost forgot the sweet sunglasses I got from Raisin Bran (note: I HATE this cereal, I just saw the box and mailed it in) – dark plastic rectangular. sunglasses that have slightly polished areas at each outside edge on the inside’’.  Again, this could be another reason for the potential misconception. 

Raisin Bran Sunglasses: Conclusion & Findings

I myself have done some pretty extensive research into the Raisin Bran Sunglasses Mandela Effect. Overall, I can probably say with reasonable confidence that the Sun DID NOT wear sunglasses. The most likely explanation is were conflating a bunch of things together most likely attributed to the logo/branding used from around 1988 – 1992 which included the Raisins themselves wearing sunglasses.