Friday
Mar242006
The Good Ol' Days - Cereal!
Friday, March 24, 2006 at 10:32PM
A tribute to the good ol' days - which in my life was the 1970's...
I don't believe there were really 2 scoops of raisins in every box of Raisin Bran? But, as a kid growing up in the 70's , I believed that Kelloggs hired an employee to sit on an assembly line and pour exactly 2 scoops of raisins into each box...
One of my favorite childhood cereals was "Fruity Pebbles." Essentially colored fruity rice krispies and loaded with sugar - what's not to like. There is an interesting point to be made here - the whole concept of the "pebble" cereal. You can actually eat real tiny pebbles in the form of "grape nuts." Honestly now...this stuff should have been named "gravel nuts" since the inclusion of the word grape is totally confusing to little kids thinking they are going to get purple cereal. And nothing tops off grape nuts better than little chunks of hay (aka Shredded wheat). Blech!
I am really supportive of truth in adverstising. That's why I was frustrated with the Grape Nuts name and probably why I really liked "Sugar Smacks." You knew exactly what you were getting here - no hiding behind fancy names like Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops. Right off the bat you knew the prime ingrediant was sugar and it was going to be lip-smackin' good - plain and simple. (note: it has since been changed to Honey Smacks....yeah right). My runner-up in truthful name branding is "Cookie Crisp". Again, no question about what you're eating here....but, why not just recommend a bowl of Oreos in milk (I know they have Oreo cereal, but I mean the real oreos). Actually, with any of these you could save the time and just have a bowl of sugar and milk.
Cocoa Puffs were a cool cereal, because if you remember...when you were done you got chocolate milk. That was great - sugar cereal followed by a sugary chocolate drink. Brilliant cereal wizards at that factory!
Then there were "Alpha Bits" - basic idea here was the opportunity to teach your kids how to spell at the breakfast table... (yeah, that's what I like to do when I'm eating cereal - why not teach Latin with "Latin-Bits", or math lessons with "Algebra-Bits") if you think about it, this is the type of cereal that homeschooling mothers would develop...
Of course I loved "Trix." But what was with the slogan? "Trix are for kids," like we needed reminding that a multi-colored cereal being marketed by a cartoon rabbit was for kids. "Cap'n Crunch" was the tops and their additions of Crunch Berries and peanut butter was even better, but was the abbreviation needed? I liked to mix it with Alpha Bits so i could spell "captain" properly.
I have some ideas for new cereals : "American Idol Chex" (multiple flavors - but none of them really taste good, "Schwarzenegger Chex" (two flavors/ two different sides/same cereal...), "Microsoft Mush" (you get a free browser inside every box), "Special H" (strikingly similar to "Preparation H" so it will keep people wondering), "Soggy Brown Stuff" (dont' forget, I like truthful advertising).
Quietly making noise,
Fletch
I don't believe there were really 2 scoops of raisins in every box of Raisin Bran? But, as a kid growing up in the 70's , I believed that Kelloggs hired an employee to sit on an assembly line and pour exactly 2 scoops of raisins into each box...One of my favorite childhood cereals was "Fruity Pebbles." Essentially colored fruity rice krispies and loaded with sugar - what's not to like. There is an interesting point to be made here - the whole concept of the "pebble" cereal. You can actually eat real tiny pebbles in the form of "grape nuts." Honestly now...this stuff should have been named "gravel nuts" since the inclusion of the word grape is totally confusing to little kids thinking they are going to get purple cereal. And nothing tops off grape nuts better than little chunks of hay (aka Shredded wheat). Blech!
I am really supportive of truth in adverstising. That's why I was frustrated with the Grape Nuts name and probably why I really liked "Sugar Smacks." You knew exactly what you were getting here - no hiding behind fancy names like Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops. Right off the bat you knew the prime ingrediant was sugar and it was going to be lip-smackin' good - plain and simple. (note: it has since been changed to Honey Smacks....yeah right). My runner-up in truthful name branding is "Cookie Crisp". Again, no question about what you're eating here....but, why not just recommend a bowl of Oreos in milk (I know they have Oreo cereal, but I mean the real oreos). Actually, with any of these you could save the time and just have a bowl of sugar and milk.
Cocoa Puffs were a cool cereal, because if you remember...when you were done you got chocolate milk. That was great - sugar cereal followed by a sugary chocolate drink. Brilliant cereal wizards at that factory!
Then there were "Alpha Bits" - basic idea here was the opportunity to teach your kids how to spell at the breakfast table... (yeah, that's what I like to do when I'm eating cereal - why not teach Latin with "Latin-Bits", or math lessons with "Algebra-Bits") if you think about it, this is the type of cereal that homeschooling mothers would develop...
Of course I loved "Trix." But what was with the slogan? "Trix are for kids," like we needed reminding that a multi-colored cereal being marketed by a cartoon rabbit was for kids. "Cap'n Crunch" was the tops and their additions of Crunch Berries and peanut butter was even better, but was the abbreviation needed? I liked to mix it with Alpha Bits so i could spell "captain" properly.
I have some ideas for new cereals : "American Idol Chex" (multiple flavors - but none of them really taste good, "Schwarzenegger Chex" (two flavors/ two different sides/same cereal...), "Microsoft Mush" (you get a free browser inside every box), "Special H" (strikingly similar to "Preparation H" so it will keep people wondering), "Soggy Brown Stuff" (dont' forget, I like truthful advertising).
Quietly making noise,
Fletch
Reader Comments