The Cheerios Kid

From the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, the Cheerios Kid, a cute black-haired boy about twelve years old, was one of the beefcake-heavy breakfast cereal icons.  In a series of "damsel in distress" commercials.  His companion Sue would be grabbed by a monster, pirate, space alien, or mad scientist, and yell "Help, Kid!" in a weird Southern accent.  The Kid would then eat Cheerios, flex a gigantic o-shaped bicep, and pound the bad guy.  Sue would gasp "My hero!"

Extremely heterosexist plotlines -- that is, if Sue was his girlfriend, not a gal pal or sister -- the nature of their relationship was never specified.  No matter, the gigantic o-shaped muscles were nice to look at, and gay boys often removed Sue from the scenario and imagined that they were the ones being rescued and gasping "My hero!"

By the 1970s, Sue was an equal partner, eating the cereal with the Kid, flexing muscles of her own, and helping pound the bad guy.