Today I discovered something that I had to share.
It was one of those moments where a pillar of your childhood crumbles and the sudden shift in your psyche leaves you feeling baffled and betrayed, like the day you found out the Easter Bunny isn't real.
The story goes like this: I was super excited to find Corn Pops in our local Spar. Thrilled even more by the cheap price tag: 22Rand ($3).
I seriously considering swiping 5 boxes right then and there. Seriously.
However, I restrained my clawing paws to one.
Thank goodness!
Imagine my horror when lifted the box above my bowl and out poured dozens of golden oval, lumpy bits!
Where pray tell, where my perfectly spherical balls of joy that I have been gleefully spooning into my face for the last 23 years? Where?!
I was shocked. Certainly these are Kellogg's Corn Pops?
I checked the box. The familiar red logo was easy to spot.
But then I looked further and realized that the actual logo of the "Corn Pops" bit was decidedly not familiar. Why is it red? And the font is different than normal.
I pinched a few nuggets out of the bowl and tentatively put them in my mouth. The taste was sort of right, but not dead on. They did not have the proper crunch. They were also missing that 'starchy' taste that I love so much.
What is going on!
I figured something must have gotten lost in translation in the African Kellogg's factory. It must have. How else could the taste, shape, and box be abnormal?
I took my disappointing breakfast over to the table and decided to write my next blog post about how bizarre African Corn Pops are.
I shouldn't have been so quick to blame SA.
As I logged onto Google to pull up some images of Corn Pops for the ranting, disgruntled post I had just typed, I suddenly noticed that there were two types of pictures generated by the search: one that depicted a blue logo, and one showing a red logo.
What the....?
I clicked through and that's where I learned the shocking truth: what I had sitting in my cupboard weren't messed up African Corn Pops. Oh no.
They were American.
That's right, ladies and gents, there exists two different types of this cereal: Canadian and American.
This blew my mind. It seems absolutely ridiculous that two neighboring countries that share so much have different versions of a cereal that goes by the same name. How does that even make sense??
A little research later (cough...cough...wikipedia...cough...), and it was confirmed.
American Corn Pops are as I described: slightly flattened with uneven bumps. They come in a box with a red logo and taste less starchy.
The Canadian version are perfect circles. They are also, funnily enough, higher in calories than their Southern counterparts (we do get all that cold weather, after all...).
Why such varying modifications?
From what I gather online, the changes in taste, shape, and visual presentation are due to differing market research results from each country. This makes sense, in a way, considering citizens from differing nationalities will ultimately have differing wants and needs.
But they don't do this with Froot Loops. Or Frosted Flakes. Or any other cereal that I am aware of.
So why mess with Corn Pops, out of all cereals? Why isn't Special K shaped more star-like to suit Americans? Why don't they change the AlphaBits boxes sold in Canada to the color red? How and why does one type of cereal get drastically modified and others, not?
Like I said, it just doesn't make sense.
There must be a deeper reason behind the difference but if there is, it looks like Kellogg's is keeping their shady mouth shut.
You are probably thinking I am a total cereal nazi for even writing this post.
Well, I sorta am. I love cereal.
And that's why, as an avid cereal consumer, I don't appreciate buying a branded, recognized product and having it not live up to expectations. I feel duped.
Ultimately, Kellogg's profited off my purchase while I did not receive the familiar product I expected from the company. It's simple: you shouldn't be allowed to sell two different products under the same brand name. That isn't fair to the buyer.
7 comments:
Hey Marie, when i was working at disney i sadly discovered the same thing.. and also american ice tea is weird and yuck in my opinion
@Logan: Each time I travel to the States, I make the mistake of ordering iced tea... Because, without fail, the Americans will serve you actual "iced" tea. Eww.
Marie, I know you are a cereal nut! I think this could only drive you crazy!! (heart) MOM
How bizarre to find this post, as just yesterday, I experienced the same horror...but in reverse.
I'm a Canadian, and the other day, I was reminiscing about a trip to San Diego 15 years ago, where I had Corn Pops for breakfast. They were exactly the pops I remember from my childhood (in Canada!), and I remember loving the fact that they were exactly right. Anyway, after I mentioned it the other day, my husband went out and bought a box!
You can imagine my disappointment. What were these perfectly round, crunchy items that sort of tasted right but not quite? Apparently they are the Canadian version.
My Corn Pop experience in San Diego was a one-off, but I enjoyed the puffy morsels so much that day because they were exactly the Corn Pops of my childhood.
I guess the product was the same in both countries in the 60s, because the American pops were exactly the pops I remember from long ago.
So irritating. Now I'm going to have to drive over the border for a decent bowl of Corn Pops! ;)
@Ruthita: Thank you for your interesting comments! That is fascinating to know that Corn Pops were the same in both countries back in the 60s... it really makes you wonder why and how the change came about later on.
or maybe they have always been like that since the beginning of corn pops! Maybe, two recipes for corn pops came about in canada and the US and ..they just couldnt agree, hence, 2 diff kinds forever!.. Im from Venezuela, and I had your same experience with corn pops (in south america we get the Canadian type, so much better I have to say, sorry Americans!). Another one of these silly things, happens with Oreos. In venezuela, they are brown (the cookie part) while in America, they are very very dark, almost black. It was another dissapointment of moving to the US :( .
I've never tried American corn pops but I remember the commercials and making my mom buy me them because of the commercial but when they came home they were the Canadian version. Although I still enjoyed them to this day I have still longed to try American corn pops!!
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