From a recent trip to Mexico:

Now, it's been a while since I've had Frosted Flakes. Decades, in fact. But I ate them anyway so that I could show you the box.

I thought "Tigre Tono" looked... off... a bit... from his American cousin, and after comparing this picture:

I think I notice two differences.

Tono has a squarer jaw.

Tono has one eyebrow higher than the other, giving him a bit of a leer. Plus the eyebrows are more angular than Tony's.

What does it mean? I speculate wildly as follows: although the kids ask for the cereal, it's moms who plunk down the money, so both tigers have to be a compromise between cartoony and masculine. So I'd say that Mexican women prefer men with thick eyebrows and angular jawlines, while American women only care about the muscles (although Tony DOES still have a big, strong, manly chin, albeit rounder).

Maybe I'm way off on that, but the fact is, Kellogg's DID decide to make the Tigers different for the different countries, so they must have some sort of market research to justify the cost and bother of tweaking their mascot, since messing with a brand they've spent years and millions to develop is not something they'd do lightly.

Comments welcome.

Posted by: Harvey at 04:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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