Why were they pushing chocolate flavored cereals in the 80s and 90s?

When manufacturing modern chocolate, cocoa powder is a byproduct (because chocolate requires extra cocoa butter).

So they've got this relatively inexpensive flavorful powder that tastes sorta like real chocolate; they market it to kids who don't have very discriminating palates; and it sells.

You'll notice most ice cream marketed as chocolate is actually cocoa ice cream (read the ingredients). In addition, many candy bars that used to be coated with real chocolate are now coated by a compound made of cocoa powder suspended in a neutral tasting fat that sorta simulate cocoa butter.

I like coco puffs and coco crispies tho

I'd still take a chocolate cereal advertisement over these drug advertisements with all the side effects they have nowadays. 📺👀

So they didn't taste like chocolate, they tasted like chocolate ?

Cocoa Krispies and Cocoa Puffs tasted good in chocolate milk

Coco Pebbles were the bomb!

Did you use chocolate milk for the cereal?

We had cocopuffs and chocolate pebbles in the 70's as well, they both had actual cocoa in them and tasted great.