50 Years of History According to the Trix Rabbit

The time was different, simpler, less complicated and, well - better. Kids were well behaved, the economy was not as bad, jobs were plentiful, and you know – Everything was better. Then again, if the economy was bad and jobs were not plentiful then ‘we’ appreciated what we had and took nothing for granted.

Certainly you have either been told one of these lines, or parish the thought, uttered it yourself.

Every generation seems to think, at least when it comes to what’s remembered, that they had it better in the past. Is this true? Yes and no – it’s human nature to remember the good and focus on the positive rather than the bad.

Are things as bad off now as they were back then? Probably not, we are just currently presented with a new set of challenges. To better prove this point, let’s explore the last half century through the evolution of the Trix Rabbit.

The time was the 1960’s, the seventh decade of the 20^th century, a ‘simpler’ time of war and internal conflict. The Vietnam War was in full swing, The Bay of pigs in 1961 and the current Arab-Israeli conflict began – Following this there was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, JFK’s assassination in 1963, The Compton Cafeteria Riots in 1966 an the Stonewall riots of 1969.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, the Trix Rabbit was born.

The 1970’s were a different time indeed - technology was changing, some say for the worse and some say for the better. The world was introduced to a new threat called terrorism - The Munich Massacre occurs during the 1972 Summer Olympics ending with the killing of 11 Israeli athletes. The Vietnam War ended in 1975, and the world saw the worst global economic performance since the great depression. The Oil crisis of 1973 and 1979 has many remembering the wait in long lines, sometimes down the street for gasoline.

Trix the Rabbit was in color – and, since following this commercial, vandalism with paint called graffiti soon plagued America.

In the 1980’s growth in social, economical and wealth started peeking from the shadows and dust from the 1970 slump. Terrorism and conflict seemed to be dominating the headlines and the USSR had their ‘finger on the button,’ or so we were told. President Reagan told Gorbachov to ‘tear down this wall’, soon thereafter came to fall of the Berlin wall and David Hasselhoff’s nasty lit up jacket. Yuppies were the new hippies and electronics birthed the PC, Video Games, Walkman’s, Boom Boxes and BetaMax.

Trix the rabbit goes high-tech as well – Move over Optimus Prime, there’s a new rabbit in town.

The 1990’s is better known as the dawn of ‘The Information Age.’ Seattle’s ‘grunge scene’ infiltrated the suburbs of America – and Terrorism again, leads the headlines. The Oklahoma City and World Trade Center Bombings show that there is a new domestic threat in our midst while the Gulf War began in 1991. President Clinton was knee deep in scandal while the United States experienced its longest period of economic expansion. Y2K was the talk of the town along with predictions of the world ending at midnight of January 1.

Trix the Rabbit on the other hand is not only after cereal, he too is expanding his repertoire.

The 2000’s, dawning of the 21^st century, we survived Y2K and the internet was booming. September 11^th became a date that will forever go down in infamy, never forgotten by America, and the World but especially New Yorkers. The war on terror is in full swing – Troops are sent overseas to battle and protect the world form a nearly invisible enemy. National Disasters and epidemics are topping the headlines and FEMA is uttered as a curse word to those in the South. Smart phones, social networking and technology rule our lives by decades end.

As for Trix the Rabbit, his talent of disguise reigns supreme.

Which leads us towards the current decade. We all know what’s going on – just pick up a newspaper and read it, but how about the Trix Rabbit?

What is learned by all of this - 50 years of Trix the Rabbits evolution all in one place? This proves one thing and one thing only. Perhaps things were better in the past - at least in the 1960’s and 1970’s he was able to eat some of the cereal. The further along he evolves the better the cereal gets - the more the cereal improves, the less and less the ‘silly rabbit’ is able to eat the Trix. Sounds like more of a ‘de-evolution’ on this front -The future looks bleak silly rabbit, bleak indeed.

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