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That doesn’t sound delicious…
October 6, 2011
I was in a meeting with copywriter-extraordinaire Mimi yesterday when we found out about this:
Now, when it comes to breakfast cereal, I’m normally a huge fan of Canada. After all, they still carry Alpha-Bits up there, and most packaging is in both English and French, giving it extra flair. But a cereal called “Holy Crap” just doesn’t work for me, and I can’t imagine it working in Canada, either.
There are so many things wrong with this.
In the first place, who wants to put something NAMED AFTER EXCREMENT in their mouth? For BREAKFAST?! Nobody, that’s who. The name itself is a fail.
I could maybe (MAYBE) justify it if they were using crap as an acronym. The cereal does contain dried Cherries, Raisins and Apples … but that’s where it stops. They could have added Prunes (extra fiber!) to complete the acronym, but they didn’t. Not an acronym, just unappetizing.
Next, that “OMG YUM” kid on the home page with the, uh, “crap-eating grin” on his face? Nothing appetizing about that either. No better is their other splash page, featuring an older woman hiding behind a spoon with the words “have you had your holy crap today.” Nope, still don’t want to buy it.
There’s more! Since we’ve ruled out the acronym, they must be using the scatological reference in a misguided attempt at high-fiber humor (or “high-fibre humour” for you Canadiens). They could have played off this unappetizing name by reassuring me that the product at least looks appetizing. But nope! Completely opaque black packaging. I can’t see the product. Maybe this is to show me what color my poop is going to be after digesting all that fiber?
I’m left with this feeling that somewhere, somebody thought they were very clever.
They were wrong.
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The only other possibility is that they decided to rely on sensational ‘word of mouth’ to spread the joy about this heinous name choice. So while the product may be ‘pure crap’, they’re taking the marketing low road in so many ways it hardly matters what’s in the bag. I mean, what 8 year old boy wouldn’t be seriously tempted to beg for a sample of ‘crap’ ?
