Snap, Crackle and Pop

I do a lot of the grocery shopping in the family. In today's monster sized supermarkets, you can lose yourself for a few hours, forget your cares, think deep thoughts and gobble up as many free samples as you can find.

Here I was standing in the cereal aisle, trying to be the good Dad, and pick out something healthy for the kids. General Mills wants to be helpful, too. Last year, as part of a major marketing campaign to its conversion to whole wheat flour, they introduced on their packages a "Goodness Corner" highlighting the health benefits of individual boxes of cereal. I picked up one General Mills product that boasts it is a good source of vitamins, whole grain, and calcium.

Who knew Chocolate Lucky Charms could be so healthy for you? This is in indeed a lucky day for college fraternity brothers everywhere.

Ironically, this renewed focus on health by the producers of "ready to eat" cereal represents a return to the industry's roots. During the later half of the 19th century, health advocates were lamenting the gastrointestinal impact of the hearty, meat-heavy breakfasts that were so common during that era. Let's just say that during the Victorian era, morals weren't the only things that needed a little loosening.

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg ran a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan dedicated to restoring health (or at least regularity) through a steady diet of whole grains. He and his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, a former door-to-door broom salesman, accidentally discovered a process for making wheat and corn flakes.

Dr. John and WK disputed over how to best capitalize on this discovery. WK focused his attention on producing a steady stream of cash. Dr. John concentrated instead on promoting a steady stream of....well you get the picture.

C.W. Post, one of Dr. John's patients, actually beat WK to the punch, and introduced in 1897 Post Grape Nuts, one of the first nationally marketed 'ready to eat' cereals and the first to feature a manufacturer's coupon designed to get people to try the product. Kellogg's Corn Flakes appeared nine years later, and celebrated its 100th birthday this February.

Ironically, if you visit the home page of the Kellogg commerative site, you are greeted with the image of Tony the Tiger, who represents a much different heritage for the company. Within only a few years after the death of its founder, Kelloggs, like other cereal companies, had shifted its marketing focus to a brand new and rapidly growing audience--children--and with that change came a massive infusion of sugar.

Sugar Smacks, Apple Jacks, Alpha-Bits, and Cap'n Crunch made regular appearances in my cereal bowl when I was growing up, and I have eight fillings in my teeth to prove it. My mom banned all sugar cereals in the house after she got my dental bill.

The baby boomers who grew up on this stuff are the same people pushing cereal companies to shift their focus back to healthier alternatives, both for their own and their children's sake. Concerned by the backlash, especially when it comes to children's advertising, the big cereal makers have formed a lobbying group to protect their ability to promote their products while simultaneously taking steps to make their cereals as healthy as possible, or least for appearance sake.

Kellogg's own version of a Goodness Corner cheerfully notes that Frosted Flakes provides high energy. Buyers should probably heed instead the first words of advice found on the animation that opens the current Frosted Flakes site--Eat Right.