So Kellog’s announced that they’re going to be rolling out limited-edition cereal boxes that will include build-your-own VR viewers, akin to Google’s DIY device, Cardboard. They’ll have their own app too, with 360° videos that will reportedly include first-person rides on a mountain bike and a wingsuit. All of which is pretty cool. Nevertheless, we can’t help but wish that instead of generic action sports footage, Kellog’s had looked inward, to their own cereal brands and, more importantly, the worlds that were created to sell these cereals. Speaking as someone who grew up watching a lot of kids TV programming and, therefore, a lot of ads for cereal, some of those worlds are bonkers-level crazy. The cartoon psychedelia these commercials often traffic in, combined with crystal-clear intentions for their characters (usually, “get the cereal!”), makes them perfect for VR. Here are the five most perfect:
Fruit Loops
The tagline for “Fruit Loops” commercials used to be “follow your nose,” as delivered by the adventuresome and gentlemanly mascot, Toucan Sam. So you do just that, racing through jungle environments in search of Fruit Loops. I’d do this one just to have Sam’s POV and to see that giant, toucan beak out in front of you. Oh, oh, and, the VR viewer you get includes on its front a little fold-out toucan nose!
Lucky Charms
If “Fruit Loops” is your basic, mobile game than “Lucky Charms” could be like some next level “Myst” shit. You’re the leprechaun (obviously) on an epic quest through some kind of barren, dystopian Irish landscape to retrieve the magical charms that will ultimately get you to the rainbow and salvation.
Cookie Crisp
Look at the awesome, vintage mix of animation and live-action in this commercial. I can see a future where the kids in this commercial are wearing a HoloLens, watching Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop play their little drama out on the kitchen table each morning over breakfast. Which would probably make for a trippier bowl of cereal than either of them are used to. Then again, they are eating a breakfast composed of tiny chocolate-chip cookies so it could all just be a sugar high.
Frosted Flakes
You gotta go full AR with Tony the Tiger. That’s basically what a recent round of Frosted Flakes commercials suggested, integrating an animated Tony into touching, parent-child, sports-related scenarios. It’s usually a little awkward―what with the giant, animated tiger playing third wheel―but, on the plus side, Tony is always very supportive and helpful in whatever endeavor parent and child have set out on. I could get excited for a virtual Tony the Tiger, always by my side, cheering me on as I went through my day.
Corn Flakes
Kellog’s began its corporate life with its Toasted Corn Flakes, a byproduct of the research the Kellog brothers were doing into health and therapy. But let’s face it, Corn Flakes is a very simple cereal and one that, unto itself, does not scream for a VR experience. Corn Flakes could however serve as the gateway to visit the Battle Creek Sanitarium where corn flakes were invented and where―as “The Road To Wellville” taught us―a lot of kooky contraptions were built and experimented with in the name of health; things like the electrotherapy exercise bed and the oscillomanipulator; things that are perfect for some virtual interactivity and exploration.
Cereal: the breakfast of the virtual reality revolution.