Count Chocula cereal bar review

This might be called a cereal bar but take a look at my video and I think you will agree that it belongs in the candy aisle! 

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Holiday Krispies

So I'm walking through the supermarket this weekend and what do I see, but some Holiday Krispies staring back at me. Rice Krispies have gone all out for Christmas this year.

Sure its just different colored krispies, but I like the effort, its very festive :)

A little further down t he aisle I saw these holiday Krispy Squares. Now I'm not sure why you'd buy pre-packaged ones when its pretty simple to make rice crispy squares yourself, but I'm sure some people like it.

Finally, check out these non-festive, but new Rice Crispy granola bars. Seems like an alright idea. I mean if Special K can have granola bars, why not Rice Krispies?

As someone who eats these kind of bars I'm interested to try them both.

Old Ads Tie Ins

Another day, another check in with our ongoing series on old ads. Today its the rare tie in candy spot. I always love it when Spider-man or Hulk is hawking bubble gum,. Somehow it just fits :) Check these gems out.

Wait a second... that's not my typical issue of What If... Something is up here :) Yes its that delicious pre-cursor to Poppycock, the beloved Crunch 'n Munch. Wow does this bring me back. Crunch 'n Munch is awesome. Whatever happened to it?! Almost like an offshoot of Cracker Jack I know I always loved it, but I guess it just couldn't survive, despite the pairing with Marvel on some awesome exclusive trading cards. I am definitely the target market for this ad. Love the candy, love the cards, love the comics, and the presentation of the ad as an issue of What If... is just classic.

From the looks of eBay you can find these sets of cards now (they apparently had a few different runs of cards), and they'll cost you anywhere between $20 and $65 for a full set.

Next up we've got two of my favorite superheroes together at last. Spider-man and the Kool-Aid man, Oh Yeah! I believe this is an ad specifically for the launching of the Wacky Warehouse program in Canada. Pretty sweet. I like how Spidey is joining Kool-Aid on his trademark wall breakage... seems slightly out of character for him, but I still enjoy it. Also I like the noting of New Rock-a-dile Red. That's a classic :)

Finally a Grrrrreeeeat! team up with Spider-man and Tony the Tiger. How could that not be awesome! These guys are awesome, and with a free comic book on the line this is something I'd definitely be down to read. Not sure how much good it'll do promoting the whole "drug free" messaging, but who cares. Spidey and Tony... These guys could kick some serious butt together!

These ads are from X-Men Adventures #9, and the Amazing Spider-Man limited series Canadian PSA issues #3 and #4 respectively.

Old Ads Cereal

The funniest thing about these old ads for kids cereal is that they really take the format in a weird direction. Either of the two ads I've got for you today could've been directly lifted from a tv spot. They play as full blown action. I get that they may not be used to doing print advertising but this is a bit silly. Sure you can tell a story in a comic, but these seem to go overboard. How much time do they expect kids to invest in their ad???

Click to em-biggen as needed.

Ok, so color me crazy. I just looked it up, you know just in case... and I'll be damned but this actually WAS a real tv commercial! check out the vid below, it runs from :04 - :24

So what's the game here? I mean why put basically the exact same ad in comic form as is on tv? Is it just laziness? Did they think this was really the best way to get to kids? There are a few more mentions of "Honey Sweet Wheat" in the comic ad, and the tag at the end of the commercial "Now with more honey" is missing but otherwise its really the same.Sugar Bear is still a bad ass mofo kickin some bumblin bee butt... I guess I'd rather see something a bit different, maybe that played more to the medium of a comic more. Don't get me wrong, this is a good little story, but I bet you could do the same thing in one cool splash panel or maybe 2 or 3 frames at most. Then you'd really be doing something impressive.

Of course now after knowing that I should be looking for it I have to assume that this Cocoa Pebbles ad is also a direct tv port. Both are Post cereals from the same comic so I guess it makes sense. Maybe they even had the same ad guys working on it. I can't for the life of me find this specific one but I'm sold that it must've been one. Check out the super sweet Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles commercial compilation.

I love how all the modern ads are kind of the same deal. Barney tricking Fred with some topical yet totally cockamamie disguise. These are real classics. Also I love how at the end of most of the commercials they insert a shot of a real bowl of cereal against the cartoon Barney and Fred running away in the distance. This is classic advertising and I have to say I love it.

Both of these comic ads are from the same issue of the Archie comics Laugh line, issue #14. Nest week you can look forward to some more straightforward candy advertising. Until then, stay hungry.

Corn Pops for Real

Have you ever had Corn Pops cereal? Well if you've had it in the States you have been missing out. Corn Pops, is a breakfast cereal made by Kellogs, its corn, its sugar, its really not that good for you. But I just love it.

Oddly the cereal has a number of different versions around the globe. The most notable differnce is between the American and Canadian / French versions of the cereal. They're really totally different. If you're Canadian reading this you can think of American Corn Pops as closer to Sugar Crisp / Golden Crisp cereal (only corn not wheat), and if your American reading this, Canadian Corn Pops are much closer to Kix cereal. Pretty weird right?!

I'm very glad to have these once again in my life :) I'll definitely have to try these new Cinnamon Pops they've just put out.

If like me, you really dig cereal you might want to wander over to the WTCA Facebook page for some pics of a few choice cereals. While you're there why not like the Candy Aisle. You'll be happy you did I swear.

Marvelous Muffins!

I was walking through my local Target the other day and what should appear but some absolutely AMAZING new muffin mixes.

 Betty Crocker must be some kind of mad genius, because these look great! Cereal muffin mash-ups; why hasn't this been done before?!?! And thank goodness they went for the fun cereals, can you imagine the Grape Nuts muffins, or the Wheatabix muffins... blech.

When I was a kid my parents never let me have sugar cereals, so I never got to know the joy of Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cocoa Puffs when I was little. Oddly, now that I'm grown up and have kids of my own I don't eat or let them have it either.

What's your favorite of the bunch here? I think I'd have to go for the Reese's Puffs. A chocolate and peanut butter muffin sounds pretty damn great.