Why Aldi UK Ditched Cartoon Mascots On Its Cereal Boxes

Supermarkets can be overwhelming. Full-size, full-service supermarkets can easily reach 75,000 to 100,000 square feet. Many are packed with thousands of products, and some even have banks, post offices, or coffee shops inside. For some shoppers, it's just too much. That's the appeal of Aldi: At an average of around 22,000 square feet and under 2,000 products on the shelves, it's a simpler, weirdly well-regulated shopping experience — with prices to match.

It's only logical that Aldi's U.K. locations have doubled down on a minimalist lineup by removing the cartoon mascots on the front of its popular cereal boxes. Aldi commented that it was about keeping customer decisions simple. "Our customers want a simple shopping experience," Aldi's managing director of corporate responsibility for the U.K. and Ireland, Fritz Walleczek, said to Talking Retail. "That includes making it easier for parents to make healthy choices for their children."

In other words, Aldi said what we've known for years: Brand mascots encourage kids to eat sugary food. Walleczek discussed the power of "pester pressure" — the way that children can absorb information from advertisements and relentlessly ask their parents for the latest toy, unhealthy food, or whatever the colorful cartoon characters on TV are hawking. He said that by removing the mascots altogether, there's no risk of that becoming a problem.

Here's where it gets interesting. Aldi only removed cartoon mascots on its U.K. cereal boxes, not here in the U.S. or other countries. American kids can still spot a parrot on the box of their Fruit Rounds, a dragon on their Honey Wheat Puffs, and a fox on their Kookies. Sure, each Aldi division has its own standards and rules informed by the countries it operates in. But is it possible Aldi itself was feeling some pester pressure?

Aldi made its announcement to remove cartoon mascots from cereal boxes on January 10, 2020. That's surely a big deal, as Aldi is one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.K. and the largest discount grocer. Its main competitor is Lidl, another German-based discount store. Lidl also announced it would remove cartoon mascots from unhealthy cereals, but just four days before Aldi made the same announcement. It's possible that Aldi simply wanted to keep up with its biggest competitor.

Aldi still uses cartoon mascots in the U.K., but per its Cartoon Character Policy (yes, it actually has one), they're only to be used on healthy products. For instance, the bag for mini bananas in the produce department has a cartoon banana on the front, and a similar character appears on the front of a bag of mini pears designed for kids. However, you won't see any friendly animals on the packaging for the Choco Hoops or Frosted Wheaties cereals.