Coco Pops, The Satan Of Cereals

This morning the BBC presented an article on Kellogg’s latest marketing gimmick: Coco Pops chocolate cereal straws. Apparently Kellogg’s marketing gurus are boasting that by parents buying this product it will encourage children to drink milk.

Excuse me; I had to take a brief pause whilst I scooped up the last rings of Fruit Loops from my bowl. Thank goodness no salvos were hurled at my favourite toucan this morning. I’d really have to go on the warpath!

To be honest, whether it’s cereal companies trying to hustle trans fat and sugar infused grains, or beverage companies extolling the virtues of calorie control by consuming carcinogen injected fizzy drinks, the world seems addicted to short-cuts.

Have you ever sat in a Denny’s restaurant and heard the table across from you order a tall stack of pancakes with strawberries, whipped cream, and a side of maple syrup, sausage, two fried eggs, and a diet coke? Or driven past one of those churches that has a sign out front with a catchy little phrase such as ‘Forbidden fruit creates many jams?’

Nowadays I find it more and more difficult to escape the most guttural fundamentals of human nature: ‘what’s in it for me?’ and ‘make me feel good about myself!’ It isn’t necessary to point fingers anywhere, we all participate in it.

On one hand we could say, well done Kellogg’s, you’re working jolly hard to be socially responsible in getting the world’s youth off to school with a balanced and nutritious start to their mornings. Sure, and Dolly Parton sleeps on her stomach!

On the other hand, we could be part of a campaign to increase awareness of what really is a nutritious start to a morning, inclusive of all the food groups, colours and all. That’s what Which magazine’s diatribe is all about.

But do you really think our youth is going to buy into that bunch of fluff? I don’t see any community service announcements between MTV clips on Jessica Simpson’s riveting social intellect or the show where a gaggle of hopeful lovelies are deceived into believing some country born cowboy is a multi-millionaire living in an Italian palazzo and is searching for a ‘Miss Right’ to ride off into the Tuscan sunset with him.

Why not have a year of truthful marketing? That would be different. A year where everyone told the truth, everyone was made aware of the facts, and anyone who wanted to achieve a goal would actually have to work for it.

Now, there's a marketing strategy that has never been tried!

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I wonder if there’d be any takers? ......... Naaaaaaah

Postscript:

Christian J sent me an interesting little snippet. I'm just too thick to figure out how to add a link to the comments field; but anyhoo, it seems the venerable Mr Kellog was actually a vegetarian health freak (in the nicest sense of the term), who advocated healthy eating and a regimen of enemas! I'm certain he would have loved the straws!

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