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Kellogg's is a few years late to the party here.
Scroll down to \"Previously, laser etched foods...\"
Kellogg's is a few years late to the party here.
Scroll down to \"Previously, laser etched foods...\"
I didn't realize cereal counterfitting was such a problem.
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@redskull: The argument for generic brands is that a lot of them are manufactured by the same companies and factories using the same ingredients and proportions as the regular brand.
Although, I think it would have sufficed for Kelloggs to just, you know, put out a statement to the effect.
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Did Clark Griswold develop this after he finished perfecting his non-nutritive cereal varnish?
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\"We want shoppers to be under absolutely no illusion that Kellogg's does not make cereal for anyone else\"
So if Kellogs wanted to make corn flakes for a store brand, what? They couldn't just turn off the laser etching machine? And I think her quote has one too many negatives. Regardless, it hardly makes sense if you think about it.
Now, if you were concerned about getting counterfeit corn flakes in a Kelloggs box, well then this could be of some value!
@Marshfield: Thought the exact same, immediately.
How about a direct approach? Like \"Kellogg does not make, distribute, or produce blah, blah, blah...\" on their packaging? Listerine and many other brands that have seeming store-brand counterparts do this.
Or is this simple and straight-forward approach just too preposterous for, you know, being straight-forward, explicit, and inexpensive?
This is the kind of ridiculousness that ends up making products more expensive. Every time someone proposes a little more regulation for product safety, or even when a company has to pay a fine for violating exisiting regs, there's a whole chorus about how that's actually bad for consumers because, clearly, the company's increased costs will get passed on to the customer.
Next time that gets mentioned, I'm going to think back to the lasered corn flakes. If corporations have the $$ to blow on stuff like this, we shouldn't assume that any costs imposed by the govt are automatically going to translate to higher prices.
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@oneandone: Kinda like how all those 24-hour \"News\" shows always use that excuse of \"we just don't have enough time to cover e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g...\" when it's pointed out to them that their coverage is completely biased and/or misleading.
But they somehow have all the time in the world to present in-depth reporting about You Tube videos and lame tea-bagging parties.
Priorities, Kelloggs!
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@oneandone: Corn flakes are one of the cheapest foods to manufacture, and laser etching could easily double Kellogg's cost to .08 per box, but branding is exactly why they are able to charge a high price.
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I would love a steak with my face on it, but I'm not sure I could eat it. Maybe PETA will start an initiative to have steaks with cow's faces on them. I would eat that.
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@Saites: You could get a good look at a t-bone by sticking your head up a butcher's ass...wait...It's gotta be your bull.
/shows himself out.
This is 'shopped, right? I mean, seriously, look at it. It's not even a good 'shop.
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@jmhart: It sounds like they haven't actually done it yet with the 'exploration of the capability' bit so maybe we're not even supposed to think it's real.
It's not even funny. It's retarded. I hate it when PR firms try to make something go viral, especially when it's this dumb and obvious.
I'm buying Post for three months because of this
This just looks ripe for all sorts of employee abuse. Flood of eBay Listings feature corn flakes with an image of Jesus in 5, 4, 3, 2...
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This makes me think of the \"M\" that is stamped on every single M&M. Supposedly, that stamping process is a trade secret that is closely guarded at M&M Headquarters.
@razremytuxbuddy: Yes. They turned the documentation upside down and then locked it in a file cabinet under \"W.\"
Hey, have to find something to do with your money when the taxpayers foot the bill for your main ingredient.
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Seriously?
If I bought cornflakes, it would be the cheap ones, since they are all pretty much the same.
Laser etched? What a waste of...I don't know, money, time, engineering capabilities...
Maybe they should figure out how to laser etch something people actually care about being counterfeited, Chanel sunglasses, Nike shoes, money, drugs...
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...if I swallow a whole flake, will the etching still be visible in my poop?
Okay...if Kellogg's starts etching all their flakes, it is sure to come out in the final cost of the product.
..ultimately the price hike for something as silly as etching a corn flake will drive me to buy from the more reasonably-priced competition that is cheaper.
I'm also sure at some point a scientist will surmise that the the etched corn flakes cause cancer.
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At restaurants, they can use it to make notes for the wait-staff: the baked potato can be etched with a reminder about \"for the guy with the beard\", while the strawberry salad can be tagged \"gal with frizz\".
Seriously, this is very off-putting: I do not want one more reminder that my food is an artificial product of technological processes.
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But I don't want to eat the laser-etched food, Mummy!
An article in the NY Times described laser etching fruits 'n veggies so scanners could ID 'em ~ sort of a UPC code, as I recall. This WORKS for ME ~ who doesn't hate peeling off those idiotic stickers on fruits 'n veggies? Whoever invented those should be (insert your preferred method of death).
If this is ever implemented it will be used for advertising something because there just are not enough advertising venues yet.
Wow. A sign of the apocalypse?
This is how American business tells the world that they have so much excess food it has to be \"laser etched\" to make it attractive enough to eat? That is, the stuff they don't wastefully turn into fuel or dump on Mexican markets.
This sort of nonsense makes The Onion redundant.
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Is this the same as the pringles with the jokes on them a few years ago?
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I buy store-brand corn flakes because they taste 100% the same.
I would have never known!
I can't wait to see them do this to Rice Krispies. Either that or put a picture of \"Snap, Crackle and Pop\" on each piece.
Is this a little something like printing the Bible on the head of a pin?
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Cereal port is full. Can't load breakfast.exe..
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My first reaction, (glanced at the pic but not the headline at first) was oh no, another article about bugs in food! I'd probably toss my the whole box if I saw this before coffee thinking it'd been sitting on the shelf too long
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I started buying store brand when Kellogg's added HFCS to corn flakes.
If Kellogg's wants my business, cut the HFCS. And the price. I can pay half the cost for twice as much of non-HFCS store brand corn flakes. No amount of branding or coupons will get me to buy the Kellogg's.
I could see this being profitable for Kellogg. They could sell this to hotel chains with the hotel logo on the corn flakes for use in their continental breakfasts, for example. I bet they could get a few buyers.
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All corn flakes are the same, but I guess this gives Kellogg's a \"legitimate\" reason to raise the price.
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The photo looks fake anyway, and the announcement sounds like an obvious joke. I can see laser etching for health tracking purposes on produce, as long as it doesn't harm the food, otherwise, I couldn't care less whether I'm eating corn flakes made by Kellogg's, Post or Malt-O-Meal.
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This reminds me... I ate the last of my Kellogg's Honey Smacks this morning. That cereal is so good, you couldn't convince me there was anything of nutritional value in it.
@dohtem: Do you notice how your pee smells like smacks after you eat them? Ummmm.... me neither.
@dohtem: back in the day these were known as SUGAR smacks... i miss sugar.