General Mills – low-key – announced three ‘fancy’ variants of Cheerios disappeared from its product roster last week. How low-key? Even an official company spokesperson reached by ABC News couldn’t immediately tell its reporter why!
Even the the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot, Buzz Bee, seems taken by surprise
by the news that three of his fave General Mills Cereals have been
discontinued. Not to mention obvious job security questions…
This is a first in my experience. I just had to explore the issue further, and find how the whole thing went down…
The usual unsigned statement…
The Mystery of the Missing Cheerios all started late last week with the following ‘routine’ media ad-visory:
“The Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch Cereal and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios Cereal […] are no longer available,” General Mills told ABC News in an emailed statement. Honey Nut Cheerios Minis were also reported to have been discontinued.
The decision, a company spokesperson continued, “could be for a variety of reasons, ranging from insufficient consumer demand to ingredients no longer available or other supply chain constraints, whereby it’s just no longer feasible for us to offer the product with the high quality and competitive pricing that consumers know and expect.”
Correct me if I’m wrong…
Did I not read, somewhere, recently, that Honey Nut Cheerios was the single most popular General Mills cereal right now? I’m pretty sure I did…
So… What makes the discontinued versions so problematic?
I still don’t know, because, when I Googled, “Why has Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch Cereal been discontinued?” all I got back was the following, terse Facebook ‘error’ page:
***
This content isn’t available right now
When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only
shared it with a small group of people, changed who can
see it or it’s been deleted.
***
Hmmm… Did somebody at General Mills accidentally hit the ‘Forward to ALL’ button on a message that was intended for internal consumption only? Even I haven’t pulled that rookie boo-boo for years, now…
The plot thickens…
Bottom line? General Mills later confirmed to USA Today that the Cheerios varieties ‘in play’ are, indeed, being retired.
“For more details on General Mills cereals available in your shopping area, the company suggests consumers use the online product locator to find retailers offering the cereal they’re looking for,” ABC recommends. Alas, not a trace of the aforementioned disappearing cereals in evidence there, either…
But the return of previously-discontinued Frosted Lemon Cheerios was confirmed by the same com-pany spokesperson reached by ABC. And that product HAS been restored to the Product Locator.
My take
Turns out, the unexplained disappearance of the three Cheerio varieties in question came as an un-welcome surprise to the brand’s fan community. The social media channels are currently churning with incredulous, unbelieving, shocked-and-awed comments.
“GM please mail me any boxes you might have laying around,” one commenter wrote, on the Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch product page.
“Please have mercy. This is my favorite cereal of all time,” yet another consumer wrote, on the Choc-olate Peanut Butter Cheerios product page. “My heart is broken.”
Nevertheless, The Oregonian reports that, “As of Saturday, Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch holds an average rating of 4.9 stars on the company’s review page, matching Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios’ equally strong rating.”
More to come?
I’d hate to be trapped in the middle of the chaos that’s undoubtedly ensued at General Mills head-quarters over this crazy mixup! But I’m confident the company will tell us what happened – once the folks who are supposed to know have found out, themselves!
Stay tuned!
~ Maggie J.