@Ariella - Wow. I guess "Big Cereal" really did have some marketing machine for kids. I wonder what it's been replaced with now... pre-roll ads on streaming youtube videos? I don't think that many kids watch saturday morning cartoons, if that time slot even exists still.
@mhhf1ve probably not, as that would be a bit too obvious. They still market sugary cereals to kids, though they have to do it in somewhat more subtle ways than by engaging them in games. They tend to rely on the packaging to some extent, as many young kids accompany their parents at the supermarket and clamor for the things with cartoon characters on them.
> "What makes you think that people have become addicted to digital devices and social media?"
I have to wonder, though, what defines an addiction vs just something humans require? For example, we all need sleep, but very few people are "addicted to sleep" (I'm sure there probably are a few outliers of people who may be..). People need social interactions, but what makes it "an addiciton" if the few outlets for social interaction is technology?
I guess I'm saying, for example, astronauts communicate with their families on the ground -- because if they didn't they'd go crazy, but astronauts aren't "addicted" to their equipment. They literally need it to stay healthy and survive. Likewise, if some social teens were banned from social media -- would they not have a higher likelihood of becoming a unabomber or go a little nuts?
I suppose that the margins on kids cereal are probably high enough that Big Cereal doesn't really need to do all that much marketing -- as long as kids see the boxes in the supermarket. So it's all just paying the grocery stores to put the kids cereal at the ends of the aisle and at kid-height.....
@vnewman It really is a form of content marketing, and you could get away with for adults. It's only when the target market is a kid that you run some risk of opposition. It's not technically against the law here (though it might be in the EU and UK), as the US ad market is pretty much self-regulating, but they only get to be that way if they show themselves to adhere to standards that are generally agreed upon.
I'm somewhat hazy on where the line is for "kid marketing" when I think all video games are basically ads for kids. Mario advertises for his own games and all other Nintendo games at the same time.. and now I've gotta look up to see if there's a Mario cereal....
The hallmark of an addiction (according to the Psychological Bible the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5))is when the behavior interferes with your "normal" functioning in other domains of your life - work, interpersonal, and ahem, social.
I'd argue that abnormal has become the new normal in this regard.
This short lived cereal contained both Super Mario Bros. cereal and Zelda Adventure cereal. The cereals were contained in two separate 7.5 ounce bags. Text on the front of the box read, "Fortified with 9 essential vitamins and minerals" and "two different natural and artificial flavors: Fruity & Berry".
A 1989 magazine ad described it this way:
Nintendo is for breakfast now. Nintendo is two cereals in one. Wow! Super Mario Bros. and Zelda too. Mix 'em, match 'em, crunch 'em, you just can't loose.
Fruit-flavored Marios, Mushrooms and Goomas. Berry-flavored Links, Hearts and Shields. Nintendo is breakfast news!
Nintendo Cereal System. If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em.
The back of one box read, "Jump on the chance to win a Nintendo Entertainment System Power Set!" Another set of boxes offered four Nintendo Power Cards on the back and encouraged cereal consumers to "collect all 12."
Known Premiums: Free Action Poster; free Nintendo sticker; send-away hologram t-shirt offer.
Wow. Mario cereal existed. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised but I was sorta joking. I do, however, remember a PAC-man cereal, so it's not crazy to believe other games had their own cereals too.
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