Every morning I go about my morning routine the same way. Snooze my alarm at least 3 times, get out of bed, get showered, get dressed, put my back pack together, make my lunch, and then finally eat breakfast. I’m a creature of habit so I’ve been eating the same breakfast for as long as I can remember. I have a cup of coffee, a banana, and a nice hearty bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with skim milk.
So what makes this particular morning different then the thousands of other mornings I’ve experienced in my life? Well, the other day in my media literacy class we were talking about advergaming, which is where marketers incorporate games into a product to grab consumer attention and drive sales, and the back of the cereal box caught my eye because it’s plastered with advergames. I personally never really paid attention to this before but apparently, according to Deborah Thomas, a researcher who conducted a study called Marshmallow Power and Frooty Treasures: Disciplining the Child Consumer through Online Cereal Advergaming, “85% of the food brands that target kids via television have corresponding online sites featuring advergames in which players can spend hours interacting with branded spokescharacters and virtual food items and icons.” I’ve definitely seen many commercials, so clearly I was not surprised to find that the back of the Honey Nut Cheerio Box looked like this.
Thomas focused her research on comparing Froot Loops and Lucky Charms and the narrative discourse they provide through the advergaming, so I decided to do a little research myself and apply what she learned about these cereals to one of my favorite cereals that I religiously eat every day. As indicated in bold on the bottom of the box “for more fun check out http://www.honeydefender.com”. So without hesitation, I hopped on my computer and into Honey Nut Cheerio world I went.
There are seven mini arcade games you can play or you can follow Buzz, the famous bee who collects the precious honey to make the delicious honey nut cheerios, on a narrative adventure to protect the honey comb. I’ve never been good a video games so I decided to choose one of the smaller, less skill oriented options. I played one of the mini arcade games called The Chase. The object of the game is to catch the submarine that stole your precious honey so you can fly it to the honey comb to produce honey nut cheerios. You are Buzz and the way you gain energy and speed is by eating bowls of honey nut cheerios. If you eat something other than the honey nut cheerios bowl you lose points and speed and the submarine becomes harder to catch. Also if you don’t eat enough honey nut cheerios you don’t gain enough energy to zap the sub to slow it down. This mini game is completely fueled by eating bowls of honey nut cheerios. To succeed you must eat the cheerios and if you fail to do so, there’s no way you’ll catch the submarine, save the honey, and win the game. Eat the cereal, you’ll gain points. Eat the cereal, you’ll speed up. Eat the cereal, you’ll gain energy to zap the sub. Fail to eat the cereal and none of the above is achievable.
What kind of message is this sending to kids? We’re marking to our youth to believe that success lies within the consumption of these foods, but in reality it’s leading to poor consumer choices/habits and ultimately obesity. Kids are able to attach themselves to these fun characters and the cool plot lines and narratives created on the back of the cereal box which are carried over to the advergames because as Thomas says, “with their respective discourses of ‘‘frooty treasures’’ and ‘‘marshmallow power,’’ these sites promote cereals as much more than just breakfast. They are fantasy, adventure, and fun.”
After I was finished playing, I helped myself to another bowl of cereal. If I, as an informed young adult consumer, can’t resist, then how is a 10 year old going to? I challenge you to go onto one of these sites and play the games. What’s your reaction? Would you go back for another serving like I did?
– Al
WP 4.5
muffin top 