New Cheerios Billboards: Keeping it Simple

[author: Catlan McCurdy] 

Driving down the highway the other day, I spotted a new billboard. There were no brand names associated with the ad, and the entire sign consisted of only a single word: Love. And yet, I instantly understood the connection: Cheerios.

Thanks to blog.livlane.com for capturing General Mills’ newest creation.

With its bright yellow background and black characteristic font, the billboard looks like a box of Cheerios made for Godzilla. And I loved it. This billboard instantly hit me with a wave of nostalgia, even stronger than the Minnesota heat wave we have been experiencing. Like most children, I was raised on Cheerios and learned to recognize the yellow box at a very young age. Those boxes contained my favorite breakfast food, and if I was lucky, a maze or word scramble on the back that I could solve while spooning down the crunchy o’s. Later, I would use those same boxes to create a fort, surrounding myself with a yellow wall at the breakfast table to fend off my younger brother seated across from me.

Now, as an attorney, I laugh to no one in particular when I realize that instead of a ® next to “Love,” the word is accompanied by a small Cheerio. Touché, General Mills, touché.