The Changing Shape of Breakfast Cereal
Britain's tabloids are up in arms about a new breakfast trend. Plans are afoot from retailers and manufacturers, including Sainsbury's and Kellogg, to ditch cereal boxes and offer one of the world's favorite morning traditions in BAGS!!!
Virginia Blackburn, in The Express, opined, "Breakfast will never be the same again…cereal boxes were decorated with all sorts of comforting characters who cheered you up first thing in the morning before setting off for school or work." Her argument is based not only on cheerfulness but prizes hidden in the box; its versatility for arts and crafts; cut-out games, quizzes and masks; collectibles and recipes.
Lucy Ballinger in The Daily Mail warned that it could "turn your breakfast to dust." While admitting that the change would reduce packaging by up to a third, she expressed customers' concerns that the bags would be too flimsy to protect the cereal.
The two journalists were scathing about the "green" effect on their readers' breakfasts and the relative importance of reducing packaging as opposed to sacrificing tradition.
Stuart Lendrum, Sainsbury's head of packaging, is quoted, however, saying that "customers asked us why they (cereals) need to be in a box as well as a bag when you can just print all the information on the bag."
One of Kellogg's spokespeople explained that, while they are considering possibilities, "We know our consumers buy Kellogg's for the quality and we need to ensure that we can provide the same quality of product (i.e. not dusty, broken flakes)."
The more sober Daily Telegraph looked at things a little less hysterically and more broadly, reporting that Sainsbury's asked over 1000 customers which products they considered the worst in packaging terms before making their decisions. The chain already sells some of its milk in plastic bags and is now devising alternative seals and wraps for baskets of soft fruit. This could save up to 330 tons of plastic each year just on strawberries, the Telegraph said.
Discussion questions: Do you think cereal packaging should shift to bags for environmental reasons? Will retailers face display problems if cereal boxes disappear? How do you think consumers will respond?
[Author's commentary] What is clear is that when it comes to cereal boxes, familiarity seems to breed anything but contempt. But it does raise the question of what price we are willing to pay for environment over (emotional) comfort.