Walk On By

High on my list of Truly Ridiculous Things is the event chronicled in today's NYT - the opening of Pop-Tarts World in Times Square. Really? REALLY? An entire store devoted to selling POP TARTS?? Uhhhh, do we actually need that? At a time when obesity is at an all time high, especially in children? When sugar is already available in every form, every shape and color, in such vast quantities at every meal, that "Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials" (to quote a headline from the August 3rd NYT edition).

Really?

Today's article goes on to say that"The menu includes the Fluffer Butter, marshmallow spread sandwiched between two Pop-Tarts frosted fudge pastries; the Sticky Cinna Munchies...and then there's the Pop-Tarts Sushi, three kinds of Pop-Tarts minced and then wrapped in a fruit roll up." I almost fell into a sugar coma reading the article.

The part that got me was this quote from Mr. Etienne Patout, senior brand director at Pop Tarts (a Kellogg's brand): "Our long-term hope is to strengthen the bonding between the brand and the consumer, and that has great benefits for the brand". (italics mine). Well, yeah, Mr. Patout. Huge benefits for the brand, not so great for the consumer. Especially the kids.

Pop Tarts have been around since 1964. I used to eat them (the strawberry kind, without icing) after school. I would put a slice of cheddar cheese on top, and pretend that it was pie. Once in a while, not every day. My mom kept a few of those snack type things around, along with real apples, yogurt, and grapes. Nowadays, snack foods are the rule, rather than the exception. So much so that they merit their own 3200 square foot shop in Times Square. Not a good thing.

I am surprised that a Frenchman doesn't get this. (I am assuming that Mr. Patout is French). After all, one of his country women landed on our best seller list not long ago with a little book entitled "French Women Don't Get Fat". Maybe not, but French children might, and American children definitely do, and are, in alarming rates.

So, Mr. Patout, and Kelloggs, perhaps you could think of better things to do with 3200 square feet of real estate, and with Kellogg's money. Or maybe not, which is part of the problem.

And folks, next time you find yourself in Times Square, do yourselves and your kids a favor. In the words of the immortal Burt Bacharach, etched for all times on our collective hearts and eardrums by the equally immortal Dionne Warwick, WALK ON BY...!!