Thereafter Force cereal changed ownership frequently in the United States, following a convoluted path involving many corporate mergers.

A. C. Fincken, a former employee of the Force Food Company, set up an agency in 1910 to import American cereals to the UK.

The cereal, and the Sunny Jim character achieved wide success in Britain, at its peak in 1930 selling 12.5 million packages.

He introduced The H-Bar-O Rangers, a popular radio adventure serial for boys involving another permutation of the Sunny Jim character, and linked to an advertising campaign for the cereal.

[10] The character on boxes of Force cereal was created in the United States in 1902 by writer Minnie Maud Hanff and artist Dorothy Ficken (the mother of Fred Gwynne), initially for an advertising campaign.

Also used was the slogan "When skies are grey and times are grim, wake up and smile with Sunny Jim", which appeared on advertising coins.

The Sunny Jim wheat flakes character is referenced in the lyrics to the song 1000 Umbrellas by XTC on the Skylarking album.