Cart Confessions: Toy Story AppleJacks
Monday is just the perfect day for a Confession, isn’t it? Let’s face it – none of us are perfect on the weekend. There’s always something that we put into our body or into our shopping cart that we’re a little ashamed of. For me, it was Apple Jacks this weekend. However, with all of the Toy Story Hype that is going on right now, I’m actually pretty proud of myself for coming home with only one Toy Story product in my shopping bag.
Let me explain…
In our house, Toy Story is big. Not just big, it is HUGE. My son has been a Toy Story fanatic for several years. Hands down, it is his favorite movie of all time. When he was four, he was Woody for Halloween.
And then, the next year he was Buzz…
My daughter joined in on the Toy Story craze, too. She was Little Bo Peep (one of the Toys from the movie) for Halloween that year.
In case you don’t know, Toy Story 3 comes out in movie theaters this Friday. My kids have been talking about June 18, 2010 for about a year now.
According to the Boston Globe, Walt Disney Co. expects to sell $2.4 billion in merchandise related to the movie. Well, of course, Walt Disney is off to a running start, even before the movie is released. We saw a lot of Woody and Buzz in the stores this weekend.
My daughter first spied the Toy Story gang on this Fruit Crisps display at Stop & Shop.
Then, we found them on “fruit flavored snacks,” one of the foods expressly prohibited by our pediatric dentist.
And what children’s character doesn’t make it to the front of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box? Kraft Mac and Cheese is to kids’ characters just as Wheaties is to Olympic athletes.
Woody even made it onto Edy’s ice cream.
In fact, our Target Flyer advertised a whole array of Toy Story Food products.
Of course, it’s not just food that Walt Disney is hoping to sell by pasting these favorite characters on the packaging. At Kohl’s we saw Toy Story 3 shoes:
And back at Stop & Shop, the Toy Story characters adorned bottles of kids’ shampoo and conditioner:
Let me just point out that the shampoo without Toy Story characters on the label had more ounces in the bottle and cost 70 cents less.
So, yes, some Toy Story Apple Jacks did make their way into our shopping cart this weekend. What’s the NuVal score? It’s a 24. The average score for cold cereal is a 27, so it’s below average. I guess it could have been worse. The Toy Story Kraft Macaroni and Cheese gets a 5 on the NuVal scale.
How did I get away with only one Toy Story product in my cart? Well, all of a sudden, my son is done with Toy Story. He even talked about donating his Toy Story toys this weekend. He has moved on to Star Wars, big time. He still wants to see the movie, but that’s about it. He told me that he is just too big (I’m almost 7, Mom!) as he surfed youtube for Beatles videos, rattled off facts about the Presidents, and read about the Celtics in the Sports section of the Globe. I guess it’s fitting that in the new movie coming out this weekend, Andy goes to college and his toys get shipped off to a daycare. I get misty just thinking about it!
Posted by: Melissa 7 comments
Posted in: Cart Confessions, Macaroni and Cheese
Tags: Apple Jacks
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 7:18 am
They really should put Buzz and friends on some fruit and veggies, shouldn’t they?
They put Dora on edamame…I guess that’s progress!
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 8:57 am
I can only imagine how difficult it is to negotiate with kids to only pick out ONE product! And, what the heck? Apple Jacks are fun. Every kid should have them once in a while.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 10:03 am
What a wonderful entry! You write so beautifully and sincerely-I LOVE IT!
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 11:02 am
My son is 12 and still a Toy Story fan, but I will admit he did move on to Star Wars too. I have to say that although my kids no longer NEED to have the food branded with the latest character (like sponge bob, ugh!), they do indulge in other foods that are much less nutritious, like chips and soda(bad mom!) We just keep on trying; that’s all we can do. Thanks for being a realist and posting practical articles. My perspective is that it’s not the food that’s bad, it’s the choices we make about food that aren’t so great. But that’s the beauty of it; each time we put something in our grocery cart or on the dinner table, it’s another opportunity to make a good choice!
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
as a mom you probably have to allow your kids some less than stellar food…..we survived and we ate ding dongs! happy monday melissa
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
That is a cute story! Truthfully I don’t even notice advertisements like that at the stores! I do know the movie is going to be huge. Good luck with Star Wars now
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Tell your son my 15 year old daughter who is a Freshman in High school can’t wait until Friday so she and her friends can go see Toy Story 3!! She took over our TV last night to watch the first 2 movies on some channel……so never too old for Woody and Buzz!! The Kraft Mac and cheese score made me cringe!! Ouch!!