First, a full set of DICK TRACY SECRET SERVICE PATROL radio premium badges issued by Quaker Cereals back in 1938. The "Inspector General" and "Patrol Leader" badges are quite rare; in fact, only a handful of the "Patrol Leader" badges are known to exist. The lack of any Dick Tracy identification on the Patrol Leader badge is one reason. The other reason is that exploitation of little kids is not a recent development.
Badges were earned by sending in Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice boxtops. Two boxtops was all it took to become a Member. You could become a Sergeant for 5 more boxtops. For only 7 more boxtops, a Sergeant could be promoted to Lieutenant. When the Lieutenant sent in another 10, he became a Captain. The highest rank...Inspector General...only took 15 more boxtops. That's right...to become an Inspector General, the poor kid had to eat 39 boxes of cereal! The Patrol Leader rank could be yours if you could recruit five friends to give you two boxtops each and add two more yourself...bringing the total to 51 boxtops to acquire the badges shown in the photo! I suspect the life expectancy of Patrol Leaders was a matter of months.
Rick,
Great pickups in 2011! Your detailed description of how many boxes of cereal you needed to eat to gain all the Dick Tracy premium badges is a hoot!! I especially like the part about the life expectency of Patrol Leaders.
I remember that as a kid I had to eat 20 boxes of Zoom cereal in order to get my first baseball mitt- a Wally Moon special. Believe me, eating 20 boxes of Zoom cereal was a yeoman's task. Zoom was a hot cereal that tasted similar to hot oatmeal. Talking about being burned out- yikes! I can't imagine eating 51 boxes of any cereal.
Exploited for sure, but I loved that first mitt and I still have it around somewhere...