Afro-flakes: the Cereal!

Now UPDATED with a picture!


Ok, not really, but it appears one company has decided to target African-Americans with their cereal product. If this works, I suppose "Afro Puffs" can't be far behind. Which, I'd actually buy by the crateful if they're any good.

Read more over at The Breakfast Bowl blog.

Cereal - The Staple of Childhood

I originally intended to make this post all about the way children bond with cereals while growing up, but work has got me plenty busy right now. Instead, I'd like to give a shout to The Breakfast Bowl, a blog all about cereal and the latest happenings in the world of Kellogg's, General Mills, etc.

"Cereal???" you say. Yes, there's all kinds of interesting things going on continuously in the world of everyone's favorite breakfast treat. Did you know that the big cereal makers are shrinking the size of their packaging to reduce costs? Have you seen these new "cereal straws" popping up in your grocery store? Ever tried one? Caffeinated cereal? It could be happening.

Check out the Breakfast Bowl and the other cereal and food releated sites Lloyd links to. I think you'll find it enlightening, and if nothing else amusing.

AND, check this out...

There's an emerging food chain called Cereality. Situated around what seem to be college towns in mid-size markets, this cafe specializes in hot and cold cereals, cereal bars, and smoothies.

Silly rabbit, that ain't a "new" shape of Trix!

General Mills, do you have Alzheimer's? Or is a member of Pokemon-loving Generation Z running your marketing department? (yes, I realize this change happened in December, but I don't monitor cereal box changes the way I did when I was a kid, so this news is just now getting to me.)

Rabbit is happy to have a new shape

This "new" shape ISN'T new. Trix originally came in this circle-puff shape. When they changed to the "fruit shapes" in 1992, it was kind "fun" for about a week. But their metamorphism into fruit shapes was like when you got a new version of your favorite cartoon as a kid. You could still recognize the basics (here: the colors, though by this point Trix had added a few of those, too.) But something was just a little off. Anyway, it wasn't too long before the novelty wore off and you wanted the "old" circle shape again.

Something I noticed about these "new" Trix: they may be circular, but they're still not the same Trix as before. Originally, they were like a fruit version of uber-kid friendly Kix cereal: mostly hollow in the middle. These little puffballs are now solid in the middle, like a Cheese-puff. No more "miniature bowls of milk" in your bowl of Trix. (was I the only one who used to enjoy "drinking" out of a defect Trix that was only a half-globe in my cereal bowl??)

Old School Trix cereal

By the way, I know this is just a marketing gimmick to reinvigorate likely sagging sales of this staple kid-cereal, but it's just insulting to those of us who have been on this planet for more than 15 years. Calling this a "new shape" would have been like saying the Hulk became a "new' color when he went from being grey to green again. Don't act like people who were loyal users and remember the previous version don't exist. This change will still be "new" to your target audience of kids, but they don't really care whether this is truly new or just new to them. It's a change. They'll doubtless clamor for countless boxes of Trix with "new" shapes from the grocery store shelves just because something is "different" in them (this is called the "Lucky Charms" strategy because everytime they want to sell more cereal, they just add a new marshmellow charm and kids go nuts to chomp a soggy "pot of gold" or "red balloon").

Oh, and General Mills, good job keeping your branding up to date both on and off the Internet.

I guess I've ranted enough on kids' cereals for now.