When I was a kid, I’d sit at the breakfast table and read the cereal boxes over and over again. Often there was either something fun or interesting on the back, and sometimes some interesting recipes on the side. But over the last few years I’ve noticed that most cereal boxes use the space for either overt marketing or for supposed health messages, with no actual substance. I eat Cheerios because I like how they taste, okay? Not because they come with a whole bunch of propoganda about how this or that will help your heart. (Don’t even get me started again on those stupid commercials that show three year old children being overtly worried that their parents’ hearts are going to give out any minute!)
But, I digress. I give Albertsons store-brand cereal boxes the thumbs up. Their honey-nut o’s box had a ‘match a leaf shape to its tree’ learning game. And their corn flakes box had pictures and information about herbs and their uses – rosemary, bay, thyme, tarragon, chives, and basil. It’s interesting, fun, and the writing is creative. It doesn’t tell you that the product helps your cholesterol (reminds me of Smithers working at the race track in the Simpsons, “The audience is already here, do we really have to keep hustling them?”) or any other part of your body. It’s actually RELAXING to read these cereal boxes. So, I just want to say.. Nice job, Albertsons’ cereal box design people!