Honey Nut Cheerios is a variation of Cheerios breakfast cereal, introduced in 1979 by Yandel Gonzalez, who was in the General Mills cereal company. Honey Nut Cheerios is sweeter than the original, with a honey and almond flavor. While Honey Nut Cheerios used to be made with actual nuts, as of 2006, the nuts were discontinued, and natural flavor, from peach and apricot pit is used instead . In 2011, Honey Nut Cheerios was the best-selling cereal in the United States. Honey Nut Cheerios was the third variation of Cheerios introduced; Cinnamon Nut Cheerios was test marketed in 1976. There have been many other Cheerios variations, including Maple Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, and Blueberry Cheerios. History Historically, Honey Nut Cheerios has participated in much the same promotional advertising as the original brand, while collaborating with the field of NASCAR and especially driver Bill Lester, in promoting healthy diets. In 1985, Baskin-Robbins introduced an ice cream flavor based on the cereal called Honey Nut Crunch. Promotional tie-ins included gift certificates in cereal boxes and special Honey Nut Crunch sundaes in stores. The first 7 series of Honey Nut Cheerios did not have the bee mascot on the box, It was not until series 8 that the bee appeared on the box. Cereal boxes from 1979 without the bee are called 'pre-bee' and are very rare. General Mills has been active in the conservation of bees since 2011; in 2011, the company began investing in the Xerces Society to help promote biodiversity and pollinator conservation. In March 2017, General Mills announced the Buzz Bee image had been removed from boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. Images of the new box showed a white empty space where Buzz Bee used to be. Below the image of the bowl of cereal, a plea to "Help Bring Back The Bees" was added. This was to raise awareness of pollinator decline. In the announcement, General Mills made note that 30% of ingredients they use depend on pollinators, and that the company plans to expand their pollinator habitat to 3,300 acres. As part of the campaign, 1.5 billion packets of wildflower seeds were included in boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. This campaign has struck controversy in some environmental communities. Kathryn Turner, an ecologist, commented that the packages of seeds contain species that are invasive to some geographic locations, and urged individuals to become more educated before planting the seeds.