Eat Me

Scott Hardie | August 3, 2004
Advertisements on food products have been around for decades. What would a box of children's cereal be without a licensed character on the front? But lately it has spread to every aisle and shelf in the grocery store, and it seems like you can't buy any food now without some promotional tie-in screaming for attention from the package. In my kitchen right now: A case of Dr. Pepper advertising Spider-Man 2, a case of Sunkist advertising eBay, a box of taco shells advertising Shrek 2, a Red Baron pizza advertising America Online, a box of Cocoa Pebbles advertising the Justice League (as though Cocoa Pebbles itself did not already advertise the Flintstones), a pack of Lunchables advertising Spider-Man 2, a box of animal crackers advertising The Lion King, and get this, a bag of napkins advertising Major League Soccer. Even my bathroom has a tube of toothpaste advertising Scope mouthwash, which doesn't say much for the manufacturer's confidence in their product's flavor or germ-killing effectiveness. I don't mind when a product advertises for another flavor of itself, like if chocolate M&Ms mentions peanut M&Ms on the bag. But I have a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese advertising Nabisco Cheese Nips, and the ad is so large that it covers the entire back of the box; I had it face-down in my shopping cart and thought a small box of crackers had fallen in by mistake. When will this crap end? Will we stop tolerating promotional messages before they cover every single object in our daily environment?

(Also, do you think they'll be hiring Andy Rooney's replacement any time soon?)

Anna Gregoline | August 3, 2004
The back of my mac and cheese has a full box ad for Sunkist fruit juice.

I know what you mean. But I think this happens really only with the lower standard foods - things with a lot of sugar and fat, things that we crave - that's why they put extra advertising of OTHER foods we crave on there. You mentioned soda (Dr. Pepper), Sunkist, (eBay? I don't get that one), a box of taco shells advertising Shrek 2 (Ok, my hypothesis is falling apart here), a Red Baron pizza advertising America Online (Nevermind, I'm an idiot).

The napkins is the funniest part.

Melissa Erin | August 3, 2004
[hidden by request]

Anna Gregoline | August 4, 2004
Yeah, Melissa, that's retarded.

And yes, you'd think we'd all know a sweepstakes winner by now.