Finding Folklore in the Cereal Aisle

• Main Author: King, Heather
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Folklore Society 2022
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/digest/article/view/34094

Today cereal boxes communicate messages that are both direct and subtle. They target children and/or adults through the use of recognizable symbols that originate from popular culture, folklore and foodways. In this research note, I survey the folklore influences on cereal boxes as found in a grocery store aisle in St John’s, Newfoundland. The people I spoke with in Newfoundland also reported using expressions that originated as cereal advertising slogans. This illustrates what Paul Smith refers to when he indicates that information in narrative form can flow back and forth from popular culture and folk culture through the channels of advertising and merchandising and vice versa (1991:127). My preliminary research note supports this claim, suggesting that there are many direct and indirect interactions between folk, popular culture and advertising mediums (see: Smith 1991:147; Rohrich 1980:114-5).