麦片市场的发展已经超乎麦片发明者的想像, 图片来源：Nyana Stoica, Unsplash

 

Like any food trend, though, the marketers took over the purists’ work. Dr. Kellogg felt particularly bitter about the development: the two most successful cereal entrepreneurs were his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, and one of his former patients, C.W. Post, who Dr. Kellogg accused of stealing the corn flake recipe from his safe.

 

但就像是历史上所有的食物浪潮一样，商人主导了这波麦片食品的风气。而当初研制麦片的家乐氏医生相当苦命(编按：这样的现象不只是食品，在很多历史的发明也是如此，包括蒸汽机和缝纫机等等，教科书上声称的发明家并不是真的发明，而是把原有的东西改良而已)因为发展最成功的"麦片创业家”反而是他的哥哥威尔.基斯.家乐氏及他过去的一个病患-C.W.波斯，而家乐氏医生也曾控诉后者从他的保险箱里偷过他的麦片配方。

 

家乐氏医生就像是历史上开创食物浪潮或是新事物的人一样，都不约而同地沉入了历史的洪流，图片来源：Keith Bremner, Unsplash

 

Each man created cereal companies, the Kellogg Company (which was headed by Will Kellogg and not Dr. Kellogg) and Postum Cereal Company (now Post Cereals). Both of them became wildly successful thanks to two key ingredients: sugar and advertising.

 

上述这两人分别开创了自己的麦片事业，分别是家乐氏企业(公司负责人是威尔家乐氏而非家乐氏医生)和波斯敦谷物企业(现为Post Cereals)。这两间企业获得巨大的成功得归功于两个关键的元素：糖分跟广告行销。(编按：糖简直就是个毒品，当越想要吃糖的时候，就代表自己已经吃下太多的糖了)

 

By the 1940s, Post Cereals fully coated its cereals with sugar. The Kellogg brothers had long argued over adding sugar—Dr. Kellogg believed sugar was a vice in his pure creation, while Will Kellogg thought it was necessary to improve the taste of their “horse-food.” After some hand wringing, the Kellogg Company copied Post and coated corn flakes with sugar.

 

到了1940年代，Post这间麦片公司已经在出产的麦片上完全裹上了一层糖。另一方面，家乐氏兄弟俩正为麦片要不要加糖而争吵不休。一边认为加糖会破坏原有研制麦片的目的，而另一边则认为加糖可以改善这种像马一样的食物的风味。在经过了两人的争辩后，家乐氏企业还是决定要跟进Post企业的脚步，在麦片上裹上糖粉。

 

讽刺的是，原本标榜健康的麦片，最后因为商业化的关系，加入了很多的糖分，图片来源：Jeffrey Deng, Unsplash

 

Still, cereal kept its health food reputation thanks to a constant barrage of advertising. Cereal manufacturers like C.W. Post claimed that cereal cured everything up to malaria and appendicitis. The proclamations on today’s cereal boxes that they are “A good source of Vitamin D!” date back to Americans’ obsession with vitamins in the 1920s.

 

现在随著大众对于健康意识的改变，我们已了解到糖是一个对健康有害而无益的食物。然而在当时，这种加糖的麦片仍是代表性的健康食品。这得归功于当时如病毒式的广告行销。像C.W.波斯等业主宣称麦片是可以治疗很多的疾病，像是疟疾跟阑尾炎。而我们现在常在相关产品上看到"维生素D的一个很好的食物来源"，您可能会觉得这根本没什么，但回到1920年代，美国人对维生素相当地著迷。

 

虽然对于现在来说，补充维生素的观念早已深植人心，称得上一件稀松平常的事情，但在约莫100年前，美国人见到维生素就像是明星一样地疯狂呢。图片来源：freestocks.org, Unsplash

 

To appeal to children, cereal companies pioneered the use of cartoon mascots. Characters like Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes) and Snap, Crackle, and Pop (Rice Krispies) first appeared in the 1930s.

 

有些麦片业者为了要吸引小朋友的注意，就运用了卡通吉祥物(cartoon mascots)来做产品行销，像是现在在超市里常见的东尼虎(Tony the Tiger)(玉米片)以及Snap, Crackle and Pop(西式米香的吉祥物)，都是早在1930年就推出的吉祥物。

 

东尼虎, 图片来源：Daily Mail

Snap, Crackle and Pop, 图片来源：家乐氏

 

Advertising was they key to the cereal business. Whether they involved cartoon characters or wacky health claims, the important thing was to establish a brand for each cereal.

 

广告行销的使用决定了麦片业主的成败。无论是利用卡通人物或是推广稀奇古怪的健康概念的行销手法，我们发现麦片业主要成功经营，最重要的就是为每个麦片产品创立一个品牌。

 

“The sunshine that makes a business plant grow,” C.W. Post said, as he embarked on a career that would earn him a net worth (in 2016 dollars) of $800 million, “is advertizing.”

 

"让麦片产业能不断成长的关键在于广告行销"C.W.波斯，这位用2016年物价来推算，有著近8亿美金净收益的麦片业主如是说。

 

“The Most Important Meal of the Day”

"一天当中最重要的一餐"

 

为何现代人普遍认为早餐是一天当中最重要的一餐呢？图片来源：
Jez Timms, Unsplash

 

Cereal and breakfast foods don’t have a monopoly on animated mascots and zany health claims. But there are a number of reasons why the battle over breakfast is particularly ferocious.

 

虽然截至目前为止，凭借卡通吉祥物及健康概念的推广，麦片及相关的早餐产品并没有在食品市场上取得独占的地位。不过，人们对于早餐的重视程度会远远超过其他两餐呢？关于这方面，我认为有以下几个原因。

 

The first is that any company that convinces you to eat their cereal, pop tarts, or bagels absolutely owns your breakfast, because most people eat the same breakfast every day. Studies have found that consumers have strong brand loyalty to breakfast foods like cereal. Our breakfast choices are likely more habitual because of the strength of morning routines. Ads by the chicken lobby may convince people to eat a bit more chicken. But an avalanche of Tony the Tiger ads can get tens of thousands of children to eat Frosted Flakes every morning for years.

 

首先，只要任何业主说服您购买他们家的麦片、夹心饼或是贝果，通常都不太会拒绝。这是因为放眼望去，大多数人每天都是吃这样的早餐。研究也发现，消费者在购买像是麦片这样的早餐产品时，有著极高的品牌忠诚度(brand loyalty)。而现代人的早餐其实跟宗教仪式没什么两样：每天吃早餐时会选的食物就像是一个周而复始的习惯。

 

在卖鸡肉的广告上少不了笑得很开心的鸡，但是这些要被宰的鸡真的开心吗？图片来源：
JOHN TOWNER, Unsplash

 

除了消费端，在业主的部分可以发现，像是卖鸡肉的广告很可能会用各种方法尽力说服人们多吃鸡。不过像是东尼虎玉米片这项产品，不费吹灰之力就可以吸引上千上万个小朋友每天早餐都吃它也不会腻。

 

Another is that while some Americans cook breakfast, people’s desire for a fast, convenient meal means that many breakfast foods are packaged products that rely on advertising. You can glean this from the structure of the cereal industry: cereal is extremely easy to make—a fact that angered Dr. Kellogg, who patented his creation but failed to prevent others from copying it—yet just a few companies dominate the market.

 

再者，虽然有些美国人都会亲自煮早餐，但是对于人们来说，都比较倾向快速简便的备餐方式，于是乎许多的早餐产品都是已经预先烹调好的。从整个麦片产业结构就可以得到上述这样的结论了：麦片是相当容易制作的，这的确是事实；但讽刺的是，这也是为何家乐氏医生的相关食谱很难防止他人抄袭的主要原因。不过奇怪的是，现在只有少数几间的麦片企业独占整个市场。

 

虽然麦片这项产品很容易被仿制，但是一般业主要进入消费者市场的难度极高。图片来源：Pedro Ribeiro, Unsplash

 

As the Federal Trade Commission once complained in an antitrust lawsuit, competing with the cereal giants is difficult because they create dozens of cereal brands and promote “trademarks through intensive advertising [which] results in high barriers to entry into the cereal market.” The magic of Snap, Crackle, and Pop—and all the advertisements for cereals, pop tarts, yogurts, and breakfast bars—is high profits from an easily imitated product.

 

虽然美国的消保会曾在一个反托拉斯的诉讼中指出，一般业主要对抗麦片产业巨擘真的是相当地困难，这是因为它们有巨大的商业资源得以设立数十个麦片的品牌，而且有能力做病毒式的行销，使得一般业主在进入市场的难度变得很高。这也造成在这样容易模仿的食品产业中，这些商业巨擘有著相当高的收益。

 

原文出处：How Breakfast Became a Thing
原文作者：Alex Mayyasi
撰文日期：2016.5.9