Friday, October 16, 2009

Candy is Food Energy

In today’s “American Kids Are Obese” climate, more attention is being paid attention to the food kids eat and their sugar content. I remember when my kids were old enough to be interested in breakfast cereal and our trips to the grocery store to see what was there. I was surprised to see that Sugar Smacks is now Honey Smacks, and Super Sugar Crisp was Super Golden Crisp. This was part of an effort to make breakfast food seem healthier. In my day, the way they tried to make cereals seem healthier was throw a name like King Vitamin at it. In both cases and in today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, the advertisors are trying to win over the parents by touting the health quality of their extemely unhealthy food. Consequently, this part of today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse does work in the modern day. I could easily see an advertisement refer to candy as “food energy” a kid would need. It is a rare moment when something in the strip resonates today. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Of course the other parts of the strip which don’t work are Elly’s completely out-of-character giving into Michael’s advertising-related arguments, and Michael’s bizarre physical appearance, while he is explaining his argument. He looks like he is terrified of something, with those crossed and bugged out eyes, and giant gaping mouth.

11 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

Perhaps he's afraid that if he fails to convince her, she'll deny him candy forever and make him eat Cheapie Weenie Casserole and poorly-mashed squash when he wants food energy. I know I'd be scared witless if I thought that was in the offing.

10:52 PM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Curiously, this is a one-off strip randomly plucked out of collection #2. Originally, it appeared sometime in January of 1981, shortly after Elly began her nightschool class. I guess that will be another hole LJ will need to fill with a new-ruin.

Speaking of the marketing of unhealthy foods for kids, have you seen the latest? IIRC, sugary kids' cereals are now being promoted as being healthy because they contain fiber. ::rolleyes::

6:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The occasional sugar binge is good for one's mental health. And nothing beats Cap'n Crunch for breakfast. (Only, now that I'm old, my Inner Calvinist won't let me eat it.)

6:58 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Not to mention the fact that Elly is complaining that Mike spent a 'Whole dollar' on the candy. That would be. . . one chocolate bar, tax included.

I've been looking closer at the cereal isle lately (because a part of me is eternally six), and noticed that they're all touting 'Zero trans fat!' rather than the toys included they did in my day.

2:46 PM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

Perhaps he's afraid that if he fails to convince her, she'll deny him candy forever and make him eat Cheapie Weenie Casserole and poorly-mashed squash when he wants food energy.

That does put things into perspective. “But mom, this candy is healthier for me than the stuff you cook!”

3:31 PM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Curiously, this is a one-off strip randomly plucked out of collection #2. Originally, it appeared sometime in January of 1981, shortly after Elly began her nightschool class. I guess that will be another hole LJ will need to fill with a new-ruin.

These strips are picked so randomly, I have to think that Lynn is completely unaware of the order when they were originally published. Assuming Lynn has access to her original work, she could very well have piles of old strips lying around in a folder no more cataloged than “strips from the early 1980s”. I can see her grabbing 6 off the pile and saying, “Kevin Strang. We’ll reprint these for this week.” It makes me wonder if Early Spring is the point in Year Two, where someone started keeping her strips in chronological order.

3:32 PM  
Blogger howard said...

josephusrex,

And nothing beats Cap'n Crunch for breakfast. (Only, now that I'm old, my Inner Calvinist won't let me eat it.)

Calvinists have something against seafarers?

3:32 PM  
Blogger howard said...

Snow,

Not to mention the fact that Elly is complaining that Mike spent a 'Whole dollar' on the candy. That would be. . . one chocolate bar, tax included.

True enough. You can’t get a whole bagful of candy for a dollar anymore. On the other hand, I am not sure you could get a whole bagful of candy back in 1980. I think penny candy was before my time, which means 1950s.

3:34 PM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Assuming Lynn has access to her original work, she could very well have piles of old strips lying around in a folder no more cataloged than “strips from the early 1980s”. I can see her grabbing 6 off the pile and saying, “Kevin Strang. We’ll reprint these for this week.”

That would explain a lot--it seems fairly likely.

It makes me wonder if Early Spring is the point in Year Two, where someone started keeping her strips in chronological order.

That makes sense. And I can just imagine Lynn insisting it would be "impossible" to sort out the chronology of strips from before then. As if the collections don't exist. 0_o

3:42 PM  
Anonymous Joshua said...

Howard: Who's Kevin Strang?

10:39 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Joshua: Kevin Strang.

10:50 AM  

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