I was greatly surprised, walking down the cereal aisle at City Market, to see that my favorite breakfast cereal — Cheerios — displaying words in the Spanish language. In bold lettering.
“Special edition” cereal boxes.
The various box sizes displayed a Spanish phrase on one side, and on the opposite side, the same basic phrase in English. (Allowing for the limits implicit in trying to translate from one language to another.)
The words in question were all related, in some way, to “families”. Or to “creating new families”.
Mi Amor (My loved one)… Mis Hijos (my kids)… Abuelo (Grandpa)… Familia (Family)… and so on…
Below the Spanish phrase, the box added the phrase (in English): “Makes My Heart Happy”.
To reinforce the idea of families, and happy hearts, General Mills made some of the cereal pieces in the shape of “Hearts”, mixed in with the traditional “Os”.
Because people love their families. Especially if they have a Spanish heritage.
Two aisles away, City Market has a section for ‘international foods’, where many of the products sport Spanish words, and always have.
Spanish words like ‘Frijoles’ and “Salsa” and “Fajita Seasoning”.
(Of course, “Seasoning” is an English word. But we’re being international, so that’s allowed.)
The cereal aisle, meanwhile, has always been safely American, with all of the product information proudly presented in English… English being the official language for the United States of America. Or if it’s not the official language, it soon will be.
And in fact, when I looked closely at the Cheerios boxes, I noticed that all of the additional wording on the ‘Spanish Side’ of the box — “Limited Edition” and “General Mills” and “Giant Size” and so on — was in English.
I wondered what was going on. If I wanted to properly inform someone, who spoke Spanish, that Cheerios are part of a “Heart Healthy Breakfast”, I would make all the wording Spanish.
It was almost like a “bait and switch”.
On the other hand, the actual cereal inside the box included heart-shaped pieces, which I presume are the same in every language.
Presumably, these boxes and the little heart-shaped oat-based cereal inside were produced in the United States. But it’s possible they were produced in Mexico, and shipped into the U.S. on trucks, coming across the border.
If our cereal boxes are coming from Mexico, it seems likely that they will cost 25% more, once the tariffs are put in place. I hear that numerous American corporations built factories in Mexico over the past 25 years or so, because we have a “free trade agreement” with Mexico, and because the labor costs in Mexico are lower. Meaning higher profits for the corporations.
But now we have this “tariffs” problem that needs to be sorted out.
It’s also possible that, in Mexico, you can buy Cheerios where the words on the box are entirely in Spanish, except for a bold English phrase like “Family” or “Grandfather”.
But the hearts inside are the same.