02 June 2010

Prizes Found in Generic Cereal

The manufacturers of kids cereal have known the name of the game for some time. Not only do they wisely put their colorful boxes of sugary breakfast candy right at a child's eye level in the supermarket, they make sure and put some kind of prize in there, in case the lure of cartoon characters and fruity rings aren't enough to get the job done. Of course, for every Froot Loops, there is the generic equivalent. In order to have a fighting chance, they have had to rise to the level of their giant sized competition. Well, maybe not quite to that level.



21 comments:

Eric said...

I guess it's too much to ask them to put in a smaller generic box of something else, say maybe the generic equivalent of 'Cracker Jacks' or 'Oxycontin'. I think the trend is for the secret surprises to have surprises of their own.

Anonymous said...

Grain beetles?

Ewwww.

And...

Ewwwww.

Chris said...

Ah, I remember the glory days of cereal prizes. Magnifying glasses. Kaleidoscopes. Freakies Cereal mini-action figures (Gargle was my personal favorite).

But grain beetles? Love the "unadvertised" disclaimer.

foxy said...

Unadvertised, but INCREASED PROTEIN. Suh-weet!

The Stabbing Pen said...

"Cap'N Crunch Meeting with Chris Hansen?" lol. I never trusted that Cap'N Crunch anyway.

Shawn said...

Eric: That would be far beyond the meager budget of the generic cereal industry. Though I do like the idea.

Quirky: Maybe one "eww", but not two. They add extra crunch.

Chris: Freakies cereal? I don't think I ever had the pleasure.

Foxy: That's the right attitude!

Stabbing: Anyone who spends an excessive amount of time at sea is not to be fully trusted.

JerseyGirl said...

This blog seems oddly familiar...

-a.

Cassie said...

I think it should be a grain penny. A full penny may be too much.

I bet Joe Rogan would eat that grain beetle with a smile :)

Candy's daily Dandy said...

AND...the competition now bosts to be high in FIBER!!

How can you compete with that? Start adding Dung Beetles, possibly?

Shawn said...

JG: It's called a repeating series.

Cassie: I don't know about that. Did he ever actually partake in any of those challenges?

Candy: Maybe. Still better than Grape Nuts.

Jeff Tompkins said...

This is totally disgusting. When I buy something at the store, I want to know that it does not contain something it doesn't disclose right on the box. I want 100% grain beetles with no cereal in there as "filler." I'm outraged.

Marissa said...

If a kid accidentally swallows that shiny penny, I bet it doesn't come out so shiny at the other end.

Gorilla Bananas said...

I'm going to start eating cereal with all the free gifts you get. The VHS tape voucher would be useless to me, though. Do you know anyone who'd trade for a DVD-RAM voucher?

Shawn said...

Jeff: You can get mercury poisoning from eating too many servings of grain beetles in a week, so be careful.

Marissa: True, and most generic cereals can't afford to put their prizes in a separate bag.

Gorilla: I have a coupon for $5 off Myst, if it helps. Expired, of course, but still.

Mama-Face said...

"Why boxes are dumb" Lol. :)

Cassie said...

HE DID! I saw him eat a few hissing cockroaches. BLECH!

(I only know this because Fear Factor is the thing to watch when pregnant.)

Unfinished Rambler said...

You knew someone had to ask it...

...why not Beta? I'd much prefer winning that than VHS.

Shawn said...

Mama-face: Pure propaganda. Poor bagged cereal...

Cassie: Well then, he truly is a man of limitless talents.

Rambler: Beta tapes are actually antiques now, and thus far beyond the meager prizes found in these cereals.

Vodka and Ground Beef said...

Once again, you totally get it right. I keep buying cereal in the hopes that I'll get that Informational booklet about Capt. Crunch's meeting with Chris Hansen. To Catch a predator like the Captain would be a real coup for the industry.

What about the morning after pill. I got that in my raisin bran once, and I was kind of offended, but then after I thought about it, I was kind of fired up.

George said...

I've been lucky enough to win the Grand Prize of all of these things in one box. Yay, me!

Shawn said...

Vodka: Well, that's what I'm talking about. Raisin Bran knows how to keep its customers satisfied.

George: What are you made of shamrocks??