I’m not sure if anyone else was as seriously affected by Trix cereal’s change from fruit shapes to plain balls but his was devastating to me as an adolescent. I truly believed that the cereals taste was compromised due to the boring shift in shape and I haven’t eaten the colorful cereal since. The manufacturer of Trix cereal in 2006 switched from producing cereal in the shapes and colors of certain fruits (bananas, watermelons, grapes, etc…), to only colorful balls. While I cannot forgive General Mills for betraying me, economically I can try to assume and understand their reasoning for making the change.
The cereal had about six different colors and shapes, which in turn meant that six different devices were necessary in order to create the variation. The machinery had to create each shape, dye each shape according to it’s fruit color, and then combine all six shapes together in order to create the magical cereal that used to be Trix. This was somewhat of a strenuous process, and more than likely more costly to produce than the now seen fruit balls. Now, the machinery only needs to produce one shape and the balls do not have a specific color attached to them, making the time and therefore cost of production decrease. General Mills can now produce a identical tasting product for less, and even appeal to a wider audience. I also believe that was another reason for the switch, less exotically shaped cereals equals a larger appeal to adults; and since the kids are already addicted to the sugary goodness they won’t be able to make the switch, despite their disappointment. With the switch Trix has decreased production costs, broadened their market share allowing them to increase supply, and hopefully increase profits.
Another thing to take into account in this argument is the overall decline in the sale of cereal as a whole. It seems to me that the demographic as a whole is changing, not only have birthrates slowed by a large amount in the U.S. leaving fewer kids to consume cereal, Americans as a whole are evolving with their concerns over nutrition. Although cereal companies have put effort forth attempting to add whole grains and fiber to normally sugary cereals, some parents still refuse to allow their children near them, substituting things like yogurt, and fruit. This lapse in the market for cereal could also explain the need to cut costs.
This is interesting to me. I’d love to know why they switched to balls instead of the little fruit shapes. Cereal is one of those foods where a true oligopoly market exists. Fruit shapes do seem more fun and likely more appealing to kids. I’d guess the change had more to do with marketing than it did with actual production costs but I could be wrong. I did find this comment about the change online…. “Thats funny, cuz they were originally balls, and then they changed them to fruit shapes. My hubby quit eating them when they did that. He said that they tasted different….anyway, now theyve changed them back, and he eats them again. I like the balls better too. You must be young…I dont mean that in a mean way.*”… This poster’s comment supports your hypothesis about appealing to an older market.
When I was little getting sugary cereal was a treat that I was only allowed to have maybe once a week. However, now I think that it depends on the working status of the parents. Over the summer I work for a daycare and a lot of times the kids come in with ziplock bags filled with sugary cereal because their parents claim that they do not have time to get up in time to make sure their kids eat a healthy breakfast and get ready in time to make it to work. From my experience the parents that have at least one parent that stays home always bring their kids to daycare not only fed but fed healthy breakfasts. Of course this isn’t scientific, just an observation. But to me it seems that there is a strong correlation with sugary cereals and 2 working parents. It is also very sad to me that the kids at my daycare do not even recognize the fact that Trix used to be fun shapes. If you were to tell them about the shapes they would think you’re talking about some fantasy world because shapes in cereal would be awesome. But they don’t know what they are missing out on so they can’t miss it. Which then means that the company wins again because they will still eat the cereal since they don’t know about the shapes.
I find it interesting that General Mills decided to change Trix cereal and essentially make it have a lackluster appearance. If this disappointed the author, then it clearly disappointed other people as well. The infrastructure should have already been in place to produce the original fruit shaped Trix, so I imagine that General Mills actually spent money to eliminate these shapes. I can see some sense in eliminating them in regards to being more appealing to adults, but then how does one explain a box that is decorated with a rabbit and a slogan that says “Trix are for kids”. Evidently, their target market is no adults. I can’t say why they changed the shapes, but maybe they ran into some issues with the fruit shapes because it implied Trix were actually flavored with something other than artificial flavors and sugar. General Mills essentially competes against itself with all the brands under their control. It would be interesting to see if Trix sales have actually declined and demand for some of General Mills’ other cereals have gone up.