More Commercial Problems

It's happening again! Television commercials are causing me to question my knowledge, my eating habits, my world. Speeding away from the hemi question, I find myself in the world of breakfast cereals. Two commercials, in particular, are raising eyebrows around, well, my face. First, Kellogg's Fruit Harvest cereal... In the Fruit Harvest commercial, a voice asks about the dream in which boxes of tasty, wholesome cereal grow on trees, you know... that dream! While we are reminded of the dream that we have all certainly had, we see are given a visual of rows and rows from an orchard filled with the mysterious cereal box trees. Okay, I'm with you so far, Kellogg's. But then it happens! The voice tells us to wake up. It's not a dream any more. The video continues to show us the cereal box tree orchard, in full bloom with "ready for store shelves" boxes of Fruit Harvest cereal. It's not a dream any more? Are they really growing cereal by the corrugated, full-color printed boxful? The voice tells me yes. A hearty congratulations to the fine folks at Kellogg's for this incredible advance in agricultural science.

It's not just Kellogg's that has me wondering, though. Post Maple Nut Medley (or something like that) has a commercial that has piqued my interest, too. In their commercial, the Post people don't suggest that their product is grown completely ready for retail sale. What they do show, however, is a woman enjoying a bowl of this delicious cereal... up in a tree! Now, I've eaten cereal for a long time and in a lot of places, but I can scarcely imagine a scenario in which I would be eating the cereal in a tree! And I don't see any milk up in the tree with her. Did she prepare the bowl first and then climb the tree? Maybe a cereal accomplice on the ground poured the milk over the clusters of hearty goodness and then somehow (maybe pulleys?) lifted the bowl up to this cereal-loving tree dweller. It all just seems like a lot of trouble. If I'm not going to be able to enjoy this cereal in the comfort of my home, I'm afraid I won't be able to purchase it. You see, I usually don't climb any trees until around lunch time.