I was taken aback
on Easter when a fellow mom saw my daughter playing with her Alvin the Chipmunk
toy. “Is that one of the Chippendales?” she asked. I was so taken
aback by her question, I stuttered an affirmative response, not wanting to explain
in front of our kids that the Chippendales, the famous male strippers who
perform seven days a week in Vegas to houses packed with tipsy bachelorettes,
are very distinct from the Chipmunks, the trio of cute if annoying singing
rodents.
Which got me to
thinking about the appropriateness of products and media marketed to our kids
these days. Exhibit A: The Family Guy in syndication in the time
slot when kids are getting home from school. The Family Guy has
its moments of genius, true, but it also has plenty more moments of
jaw-dropping envelope-pushing. The shock-and-awe wince factor is
ridiculous. Not stuff kids need to be watching.
Exhibit B: Pop
Tarts. No, not Bratz Dolls, those pop nasty party girl dolls who look like
Barbie dropped out of high school so she could focus on impressing club
bouncers. The other kind of Pop Tart, the edible ones. Everyone’s
favorite toastable cardboard with frosting has “Wildlicious” new flavors being
rolled out in a new ad set to Right Said Fred’s Gen X anthem “I’m Too Sexy.”
To me, this is so
wrong said Fred. Pop Tarts are “wildlicious”? Are we sure we’re not
talking about a Girls Gone Wild video? These are breakfast
pastries marketed to little kids! How are they so sexy it hurts?
Kellogg's is trying to sell to the Gen X parents and our notorious sense
of nostalgia for the 1990s. Right song, perhaps, but wrong product. In the ad, little creatures who look like walking sperm climb over the
colorful new Pop Tarts, eat them, get doused in color, and then parade up a runway.
It's like a bad trip from the 1960s that made a wrong turn into the
1990s, and somehow wound up in 2012.
Watch the commercial at www.poptarts.com and tell me (or them!)
what you think.
Eat too many of those wildlicious Pop Tarts and you might not be too
sexy for your shirt, because it won’t fit anymore. Are they trying to
"sex up" the child obesity problem?
What the hell are
they thinking?
I sent a complaint via Kellogg's website and received the following response which I think is ridiculous. I guess they consider anyone over the age of 12 to be an adult and there is no way that commercial was created for adults. See below:
ReplyDeleteThank you for contacting our company regarding the advertising for Kellogg's® Pop-Tarts®. We sincerely appreciate your interest.
This commercial was developed with a sophisticated animation style that is intended for adults. Plus, this commercial will only appear on networks and shows that have fewer than 35% of viewers under age 12.
Pop-Tarts® have been a favorite of adults for years. In fact, the majority of Pop-Tarts® are eaten by adults, which is why this new campaign is targeted to adults who like to find a little joy in routine, everyday moments.
Viewer reaction, such as yours, is helpful to us and taken into consideration when developing future advertisements. Your concerns have been forwarded to the appropriate company officials and we hope future ads for this and our other products will be more acceptable to you.
Again, thank you for sharing your views and interest in our company.
Thank you for sharing this response.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Kellogg's is playing to Generation X's inability to let go of our youth. We don’t want our kids eating junk, but it’s okay for us to eat the pastries in secret after they are in bed or when they’re watching Elmo. Times have changed. Our parents were fine with giving us Pop Tarts and Fruit Loops, which used to be loaded with a lot more sugar than they have now. Gen X parents feed their kids organic kale smoothies for breakfast, while stuffing our own faces with Pop Tarts on the sly. This face included. Brilliant.
I still contend that the marketing scheme is inappropriate. Grown ups may eat Pop Tarts, but it’s still a kids' product, and according to the company a significant number of kids will still see it (less than 35% viewership being children still means that potentially almost a third of the viewers could be children).