on cereal boxes
I promise this'll be the last post about children's literature's extensive presence on cereal boxes. I just wanted to share this amazing photo. It looks as if Nestle are on a similar kick, co-opting National Geographic.
The really striking thing about this, to me, is the different way each box applies a rhetoric of science to sell breakfast food. With the Kellog's Horrible Science we have the idea of academic success (albeit a child-friendly one in a singed labcoat) - fitting the selling point that kids are more alert in school if they have breakfast. With the Nestle box, however, the main focus is what such scientists might be studying. The images of animals invoke ideas of the natural, again fitting a way in which cereal is marketed to the young (or rather, their parents).
Comments
Hey, I like cereal. Do keep the cereal posts coming if it works! It is fascinating to look at cross-marketing like this.
The nestle box appears to be going for the adult market through the more sober graphics and pics. The 'Free cd-rom' lettering is the only thing on there that suggests it may be aimed at children. This is not to say that cartoon type is actually better for communicating with children -- that is one of those cultural stereotypes, though cartoon lettering is possibly appropriate in horrible science all-illustrated books, it looks out of place on the slightly upscale 'Nesquick' box (note larger nutritional tagging on that box as well.)
All this deconstruction is making me hungry...
Posted by: Katherine | March 25, 2007 05:03 PM
I thought the Nestle was more obviously adult-orientated too, but then one of the things I've been thinking about a lot recently is the way Horrible Science et al appeal to an adult's sense of what a child will like.
Posted by: alice | March 26, 2007 10:18 AM