History Main / AdjacentToThisCompleteBreakfast

The claim is technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious beneath the implications.

->''"New Cheat Commandos... O's sugar cereal is a delicious part of this complete delicious [[strike:nutritious]] breakfast! And take some vitamins, too!"''
-->--''HomestarRunner'', "Cheat Commandos...O's"

->''"New Cheat Commandos...O's sugar cereal is a delicious part of this complete delicious [[strike:nutritious]] breakfast! And take some vitamins, too!"''

* As pictured above, [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] eats cereal that takes five grapefruits and a dozen bran muffins to even out the sugar (and possibly more, since Hobbes trails off while reading).

* [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] eats cereal that takes five grapefruits and a dozen bran muffins to even out the sugar.

->''"I am curious about the expression, "Part of this complete breakfast." The way it comes up is, my 5-year-old will be watching TV cartoon shows in the morning, and they'll show a commercial for a children's compressed breakfast compound such as "Froot Loops" or "Lucky Charms, " and they always show it sitting on a table next to a some actual food such as eggs, and the announcer always says: "Part of this complete breakfast." Don't they really mean, "Adjacent to this complete breakfast, " or "On the same table as this complete breakfast"? And couldn't they make essentially the same claim if, instead of Froot Loops, they put a can of shaving cream there, or a dead bat?"''

[[AC: Advertising]][[quoteright:303:[[CalvinAndHobbes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minicalvin.gif]]]]
->''"New Cheat Commandos...O's sugar cereal is a delicious part of this complete delicious [[strike:nutritious]] breakfast! And take some vitamins, too!"''
-->--''HomestarRunner'', "Cheat Commandos...O's"

->''"I am curious about the expression, "Part of this complete breakfast." The way it comes up is, my 5-year-old will be watching TV cartoon shows in the morning, and they'll show a commercial for a children's compressed breakfast compound such as "Froot Loops" or "Lucky Charms, " and they always show it sitting on a table next to a some actual food such as eggs, and the announcer always says: "Part of this complete breakfast." Don't they really mean, "Adjacent to this complete breakfast, " or "On the same table as this complete breakfast"? And couldn't they make essentially the same claim if, instead of Froot Loops, they put a can of shaving cream there, or a dead bat?"''
-->--DaveBarry, [[http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/03/1845203/tips-for-writers.html#ixzz1WKpIsczl "Tips for Writers"]]



Scam pulled by breakfast cereals. Sure, this [[ChocolateFrostedSugarBombs bowl full of sugar]] is [[BlatantLies healthy, and has the vitamins your body needs]]...

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk (etc.) all served on a 5-star table setting to get the ''rest'' of this "complete breakfast" that they depict in their advertisements.

The claim is technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious beneath the implications.

For example, the nutrition panels on cereal boxes in the UK tend to include the vitamins and calcium from average milk on top of those present in the dry cereal by itself, but this is more reasonable. Canadian and US labels show both the pre- and post-milk values.

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually its ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, [[ScienceMarchesOn sugar had become demonized]], so sugary cereals took steps to [[UnfortunateIngredients downplay their sugar content]]: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they started splitting the sugar into multiple types so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, glucose-fructose, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

Of course, it's possible the guy's [[RattlingOffLegal barely-comprehensible spiel]] actually meant "[[http://www.wordreference.com/definition/apart apart]] of this complete breakfast" -- hey, what's a little grammatical error between friends?

A newer variant of this is pulled by health products, particularly diet pills and nutritional supplements, where the ad claims the product will help you lose weight and/or be healthy when taken "with diet and exercise"; it's the diet and exercise that provide most of the effect, with the pills or nutritional supplements doing little actual work. (And they have a necessary legal obligation of their own, in that they are "not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease".)
----
!!Examples:

* [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] eats cereal that takes five grapefruits and a dozen bran muffins to even out the sugar.
* A cereal touted for its independent nutrition content once poked fun at this trope.
* Nutella got in trouble for trying this in one of its commercials.

[[AC:Comics]]
* [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] eats cereal that takes five grapefruits and a dozen bran muffins to even out the sugar.

-->--DaveBarry

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/03/1845203/tips-for-writers.html#ixzz1WKpIsczl

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk (etc.) all served on a 5-star table setting to get the ''rest'' of this "complete breakfast" that they depict in their advertisements. Humorist DaveBarry even suggested that the commercial pitch should be, [[TropeNamer "''adjacent to'' this complete breakfast,"]] or, "''on the same table as'' this complete breakfast," noting that the same claim could be made about "a can of shaving cream, for instance, or a dead bat."

* A cereal touted for its independent nutrition content once poked fun at this trope.

* [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] eats cereal that takes five grapefruits and a dozen bran muffins to even out the sugar.

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk (etc.) all served on a 5-star table setting to get the ''rest'' of this "complete breakfast" that they depict in their advertisements. Humorist DaveBarry even suggested that the commercial pitch should be, "''adjacent to'' this complete breakfast," or, "''on the same table as'' this complete breakfast," noting that the same claim could be made about "a can of shaving cream, for instance, or a dead bat."

----

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk (etc.) all served on a 5-star table setting to get the ''rest'' of this "complete breakfast" that they depict in their advertisements. In fact, these side offerings are probably a "complete breakfast" in and of themselves (you are including three shelves of the supermarket, after all) -- even ''dirt'' could be advertised as a "part of this complete breakfast!"

This is technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious beneath the implications.

Humorist DaveBarry once suggested that the commercial pitch should be, "[[TropeNamer adjacent to this complete breakfast]]," or, "on the same table as this complete breakfast," noting that the same claim could be made about "a can of shaving cream, for instance, or a dead bat."

The nutrition panels on cereal boxes in the UK tend to include the vitamins and calcium from the milk on top of those present in the cereal itself, but this is more reasonable. Canadian and US labels show both the pre- and post-milk values.

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually a ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, [[ScienceMarchesOn sugar had become demonized]], so sugary cereals took steps to [[UnfortunateIngredients downplay their sugar content]]: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they started splitting the sugar into multiple types so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, glucose-fructose, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

Of course, it's possible the guy's [[RattlingOffLegal barely-comprehensible spiel]] actually says "It's [[http://www.wordreference.com/definition/apart apart]] of this complete breakfast" -- after all, what's a little grammatical error between friends?

A newer variant of this is pulled by health products, particularly diet pills and nutritional supplements, where the ad claims the product will help you lose weight and/or be healthy when taken "with diet and exercise." Most of these products don't actually have any effect (aside from making expensive urine); obviously, it's the diet and exercise that causes the desired effect. (And they have a necessary legal obligation of their own, in that they are "not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease".)

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk (etc.) all served on a 5-star table setting to get the ''rest'' of this "complete breakfast" that they depict in their advertisements. You could eat ''dirt'' and still have the "essential vitamins and minerals" since you are ''including three shelves of the supermarket'' in the process!

This is technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious under implications.

Scam pulled by breakfast cereals. Sure, [[BlatantLies eating this bowl full of sugar is healthy]], and has the vitamins you need...

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk, etc. all served on a 5-star table setting to get the rest "as part of this complete breakfast". You could eat ''dirt'' and still have the "essential vitamins and minerals" since you are including three shelves of the supermarket. This is technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious under implications.

A newer variant of this is pulled by health products, particularly diet pills and nutritional supplements, where the ad claims the product will help you lose weight and/or be healthy when taken "with diet and exercise." Most of these products don't actually have any effect (aside from making expensive urine); obviously, it's the diet and exercise that causes the desired effect.

...provided you also eat the toast, bacon, cheese, pancakes, fruit, vegetables, orange juice, milk, etc. all served on a 5-star table setting to get the rest "as part of this complete breakfast".

You could eat ''dirt'' and still have the "essential vitamins and minerals" since you are including three shelves of the supermarket.

Technically a legal requirement, but like a StealthCigaretteCommercial, the companies have hidden the obvious under implications.

Scam pulled by breakfast cereals. Sure, [[SarcasmMode eating this bowl full of sugar is healthy]], and has the vitamins you need...

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minicalvin.gif
[[caption-width:303:''CalvinAndHobbes'' sums it up.]]

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually a ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, [[ScienceMarchesOn sugar had become demonized]], so sugary cereals took steps to [[UnfortunateIngredients downplay their sugar content]]: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they reorganized their ingredients so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually a ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, [[ScienceMarchesOn sugar had become demonized]], so sugary cereals took steps to downplay their sugar content: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they reorganized their ingredients so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually a ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, [[HitlerAteSugar sugar had become demonized]], so sugary cereals took steps to downplay their sugar content: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they reorganized their ingredients so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

Compounding the issue is the fact that, in the 1950s and 60s, having sugar added to a breakfast cereal was actually a ''selling point.'' You normally added your own sugar to your cereal anyway, and a pre-sweetened cereal meant you could save a step. By the end of the 1970s, though, sugar had become demonized, so sugary cereals took steps to downplay their sugar content: They changed their names (e.g. from Sugar Smacks to Honey Smacks, or from Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes), and they reorganized their ingredients so that "sugar" no longer appeared at the top of the ingredients list (e.g. instead of being "Sugar, wheat flour, oat flour, ...", the ingredients now read "Wheat and oat flour, sugar, ...", even though the contents of the box were identical).

The nutrition panels on cereal boxes in the UK tend to include the vitamins and calcium from the milk on top of those present in the cereal itself, but this is more reasonable. Canadian and US labels show both the pre- and post- milk values.

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