| The Great Cereal Blog |
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| Written by Ross Cavins | |||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 11 October 2007 | |||||||||||||||
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As a child during the 70s, when sugar was cheap and inflation a virtual myth, we were privy to a selection of breakfast cereals that, like 60s rock music, can only be crudely imitated these days. From Lucky Charms to Golden Grahams to the Zeus of all cereals, Peanut Butter Crunch` , us Disco kids had it made. And we didn't know how good we had it.
 What's Your Favorite Cereal? Back then, they created the cereal WITH the mascot. Sugar Smacks had Dig'em. Cocoa Puffs had Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. Trix had the silly rabbit. Grape-Nuts had, well, that's another story. My point is, they developed the cereal and the mascot together. It ticks me off nowadays to see cereals named after movies and TV shows. They assign a name to a product only because the name's already marketable.  The Count Turned Gay? Buying a cereal used to be an event. As a child, whenever we went to the grocery store, I always ran straight to the cereal section. I'd stare at the long row of colorful boxes, each their own unique size with prizes inside that stirred the imagination. Secret decoder rings and cool plastic toys and treasure hunt pieces. Being the first sibling to open a new box of cereal and dig down with your hand to get the prize was a highlight of childhood that doesn't exist in the same form now. It was a rite, a ritual to behold. The creativity is missing from today's cereals, replaced by cross-selling with the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  Crap Cereal. Then there were the other cereals. I hated Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies and regular Cheerios (remember expecting the Honey Nut Cheerios and biting into the regular cardboard-tasting Cheerios?). They were bland and had no flavor (sub: sugar). But you had to admit; Snap, Crackle and Pop had some flair. Without them, and the advent of Rice Krispies Treats, their cereal surely would have tanked. They were truly original. They could have even sold Shredded Mini-Wheats to the Sugar Bear. Cereals just aren't what they used to be. But then again, neither is the world. It's not an excuse, it's a reality. A sad reality. But I have this to say ... it's a sad time when our politically correct tendencies have spilled over to the last remaining bastion of childhood, the sugar-filled breakfast cereal. Sugar is railed against and even removed from the name of cereals (Sugar Smacks -> Honey Smacks -> Smacks -> Honey Smacks). Breakfast is a sacred time, leave our children be. Let them enjoy their 10 essential vitamins and minerals as part of a complete breakfast. Pass the Peanut Butter Crunch, I'm going for bowl number three and a two hour sugar high.
(Want to relive some childhood? Visit the Sugar Frosted Cereal Museum for a much-needed trip down memory lane.) Continue with The Great Cereal Blog (part 2)
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