I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops

How am I expected to achieve anything in life when there's Looney Tunes all day on Boomerang and two hours of Kids Next Door on Cartoon Network? Actually, Cartoon Network are bugging me slightly by showing KND episodes at random in no particular order. There are continuing storylines and character development that are spoiled by that kind of thing. Some people just don't take cartoons seriously enough. Still, suffice to say I haven't done anything this weekend at all. But it's given me something to think about. With an overdose of cartoons comes a lot of adverts in between, ripe for studying and critical analysis.

For example, Coco Monkey and his gang sing "We'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops" at the end of every advert, a jingle that no longer makes any sense. It's been nearly twenty years since they were offered any alternative foodstuff compared to which they could express their preference for chocolate flavoured rice-based breakfast cereal. The original batch of adverts, which came out when I was in primary school, consisted of a character introducing themself, describing their staple diet and finishing with the famous catchphrase. Being the kind of person who memorises things, I can still remember most of the lyrics:

"My name's Coco, I'm a monkey like you. I live in the jungle, not in the zoo. I lived on leaves when there weren't any shops, but I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops!"

I might have to revise my standard answer to interviewers who ask if I've always been interested in memorising. I did always make a point of learning all the words to advertising jingles. That said, I can't remember the less-memorable sequels to the original Coco advert as clearly. Ozmelda Ostrich's one ended "I eat plants when they're not in pots, but..." and the giraffe, whatever it's called, was "For breakfast I have two tree tops..."

I don't think poor old Ozmelda has had a single line in an advert since her first appearance, but she's always in the background to this day. Anyway, the point I was making is that the Coco Pops adverts nowadays have degenerated into bad-guy-tries-to-steal-the-cereal antics, just like every other advert in the world. They used to be more varied. And if you've just thwarted a crocodile's attempt to purloin your breakfast, you don't quip "I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops!" It's a complete non-sequitur, for crying out loud!

Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the subject.