Are you wondering why the cartoon mascots from candy and cereal boxes in Mexico “went missing”?
First some context.
On the first of October 2020, it felt like a portal opened and took away all the cartoon cereal box mascots, leaving Mexican citizens with a feeling of loss. The cartoons we were so used to seeing on cereal boxes, such as “El Tigre Toño”, “Melvin” the elephant, and a bunch more, were not there anymore. All of a sudden, the boxes just showed a boring picture of a bowl of cereal.
Now, to answer your question, there was actually a “portal” that sucked in the cartoons. This portal was opened by Mexico’s government because of a new law to improve public health.
The new law bans the use of cartoon mascots in food with a high volume of calories and fats targeted to children -healthy food can still show cartoon mascots. The government took this decision because Mexico is the second most obese country in the world: a high percentage of children are obese and Mexico is among the countries with the highest diabetes prevalence. So, it seemed a logical step to dissuade kids from buying energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods to keep people from keeping bad diet habits.
But this was not the only measure. The government also implemented the use of black hexagonal seals that must be shown on packages of foods that have high percentages of calories, sugar, fats, and sodium.
This measure seems to be showing positive results. So, let’s hope people can keep benefiting from this measure and that one day Mexico will stop being among the countries with the most obesity in the world.
A funny Anecdote.
On a trip to Merida, Cayce and I weren’t really dissuaded by the measures of buying a box of cereal. Actually, I think we bought two.
The day we decided to have some cereal for dinner we found ourselves in a cereal inception. When we opened the box we found another one inside. Of course, the first box was in Spanish, didn’t show any cartoon mascots and the black hexagonal seals were there. However, the box inside was the American box. It was in English, the mascot was there and there weren’t any seals to be seen.
We both were thrilled to find the happy mascot bear there and helped ourselves to two or three servings of the sweet and delicious cereal. Whether we had regular milk, lactose-free milk, or coconut milk we will tell in another story. (What to eat in Mexico when you’re staying with a cheap friend or on a low budget).
So, how do you get rid of the cartoons on imported cereals from countries where they aren’t banned? (i.e. The US). Well, you don’t. You just make a box without cartoons to hide the original box inside.
This measure might be helping children from getting obese, but it’s certainly not helping the environment. Anyway, nothing is perfect and every measure might be a double-edged sword ⚔️ (am I being too dramatic?).
Are you in favor or against this measure? Do you miss the good old cartoons or do you want them to return from the other “dimension” they were taken to?
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Mexico should had left the mascots alone did they ban the green giant and chef Boyardee on food also