I grew up in the 80's and as such the long-nosed fellow shown above was a staple of Saturday morning cartoons, which was supplanted long ago by channels as the Cartoon Network and Disney, however as a child this was one of few windows of opportunity to reliably watch TV with little to no interruption from any grown-up nonsense such as news.
In tandem with this block of television targeted for children was an initiative undertaken by then president John F. Kennedy for children to be more fit. Sidenote: Educational programs in the south are historically "tardy to the party", so it was still being taught in my small Texas town in 1983. Not only were all American children expected to sing and dance along to Robert Preston singing "Chicken Fat", but we were also shown ways to eat more healthily at home. No longer were moms home when children arrived after school, as working moms became more commonplace, and "latchkey kids" became ubiquitous. As logic may dictate, when kids come home to rule the roost, finding and consuming sugar while lacking adult supervision was typically the cardinal rule.
In an effort to curb the expanding waistlines of American children, this was an attempt to make mandatory exercise fun, and other programming followed suit, thus the series of cartoon PSAs instructing children how to snack on cheese and crackers, make low-sugar "popsicles" in ice cube trays, and how we should not "drown our food" in mayo and other sauces has become a part of the zeitgeist for 80's children. Spoiler alert: It was entertaining but did not work at all.
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