1947's Radioactive Cereal Prize: The Atomic Bomb Ring
2025-07-06
In 1947, General Mills offered a promotional 'Atomic Bomb' ring with its KiX cereal. This adjustable gold-colored ring featured lightning-bolt designs and a removable red plastic tailfin concealing a secret compartment. The aluminum warhead contained a spinthariscope; viewing it in the dark revealed scintillations from polonium alpha particles interacting with zinc sulfide. While the inclusion of trace radioactive material would be unthinkable today, advertisements claimed it was 'perfectly safe.' The polonium-210's short half-life means any remaining rings are no longer radioactive.
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