Kellogg’s and LEGO team up to train kids to choke
by admin on June 20, 2008
The biggest name in breakfast foods and among the most iconic names in toys have put their ingenuity and marketing genius together to create a fruit-flavored t(h)reat — LEGO Fun Snacks
There’s really not a much gentler way to phrase it: The biggest name in breakfast foods and among the most iconic names in toys have put their ingenuity and marketing genius together to create a fruit-flavored treat — LEGO Fun Snacks — that is so mind-numbingly irresponsible that at first I presumed it was a joke.
We’re talking about a children’s snack shaped like the tiny plastic building blocks that every kid fortunate enough to have toys has put in his or her mouth at one time or another — or a hundred. (The only thing my kids like better than LEGOS is watching videos of “Star Wars” characters made out of LEGOS.)
The Web site Penny Arcade threw the penalty flag yesterday:
I would love to know what sick (person) at Kellogg’s came up with this genius idea. I just spent the first three years of my son’s life trying to get him not to eat blocks, and now you’re telling him they taste like strawberries. Thanks a lot. Seriously, how in the hell did this ever get past their legal department? You can’t tell me that this isn’t a lawsuit just waiting to happen. I can only assume that their next product is fruit flavored thumbtacks.
My initial thought was that it had to be some kind of hoax or Onion story, but a jump over to the Kellogg’s Web site showed that’s not the case.
The mere idea of a LEGO-shaped snack reminded me of this hilariously effective 2004 Super Bowl commercial that pilloried the tobacco industry.
When I sent the Penny Arcade link around the office this morning, other parents were quick to offer their own ideas for killer snacks: Paint Chip Flakes and Chewable Barbie Shoes being my favorites.
There’s a wide-ranging discussion of the matter over at Reddit.
And, if training children to eat plastic blocks isn’t enough to rile you, there’s another major flaw with this LEGO/Kellogg’s product: The gelatinous blocks do not stack, a design flaw highlighted in this video by a couple of foul-mouthed grownups.
While a little Googling shows that the two companies have been taking relatively mild flack about this product since at least last year, here’s a prediction: LEGO Fun Snacks won’t be on grocery shelves for much longer.
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