For reasons that I cannot possibly understand, Kellogg’s decided that the Tonys were the right place to offer a promotional tie-in with Frosted Flakes, and yes, there’s an obvious Tony pun there that I’m sure they couldn’t ignore, but then they went and made it MORE than that. In a way that is VEXING. I’ll let them tell it:
Specifically, the beloved mascot will focus on the Tony Awards’ famous and star-studded afterparty, where he’ll surprise nominees with a golden cereal bowl and the delicious taste of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes to give everyone a Tony moment and make their experience GRRREAT!
“People tell us over and over that what they love about Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes® is that they just taste GRRREAT! So, we decided to have some fun with our iconic tagline, “They’re GRRREAT,” by giving it hyperbolic meaning – Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes® is SO tasty, that it can turn around any situation. “There. Grrreat.,”” said Laura Newman, senior director of brand marketing at Kellogg Company. “Tony is thrilled to celebrate all the amazing talent and present them with a new ‘Tony’ moment after the curtain falls.”
So let’s get this straight: A fake bowl of cereal is going to make the nominees who lost feel somehow much better about this? That only works if there is a nice check taped to the bottom. I mean, all credit to them for creating a moment we are talking about, but 90 percent of my discussion with Jessica was whether the giant “There. Grrreat” sign simply meant that nobody copy-edits anymore, or that it’s been a decades-long misunderstanding of what Tony has been trying to tell is. The rest of it was pinned to how dopey this is. Especially when simply saying “They’re grrreat” ALSO still applies! The winners and nominees ARE great! We could have used the existing slogan to convey that both these people and the Frosted Flakes are both good at what they do, and not to imply that the non-winners are sad losers who need their nights improved!! This cannot be the kind of talking point they hoped to create!!! And why didn’t they use capital letters????
Oh, and lest you worry, yes Kellogg’s DID provide actual Frosted Flakes for people to snack on, along with “adult cereal milkshakes,” which I assume is the fancy person’s spin on the old Beer In Your Cornflakes.
[Photos: Erik Pendzich, Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock, Jenny Anderson, Cindy Ord/Getty Images, SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock, John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock, Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]
