Why are there no toys in cereal boxes anymore?

[noenergy]

Just curious after being reminded by another thread.

We used fight over it when were kids and make a mess of the actual cereal trying to get it out.

I suppose its to stop encouraging kids to stop buying sugary cereals but we only have cornflakes here and its brought back so many childhood memories.

Plastic waste reduction, stopping children wanting sugary cereal, health and safety....cost?

Bike wheel reflectors!

I thought same as above but this week I've seen Coco Pops with Nerf toys inside.

Kinder eggs still exist

I used to love toys in the cereal box!

Because they realised our children don't need any more plastic shite? Or they realised the environment was more important than plastic tat?

I got a spoon in cocopops a few weeks ago !

I came on to say, wow you are brave - wanting to poke the environmental doomsayers with stick but I see a couple have beaten me to it.

My thoughts were pester power, choking hazards. I agree with the above poster, I loved cereal box toys.

Maybe something to do with not being able to advertise food to children - if you can't run ads telling kids about the toys, they're not going to nag parents to buy the product.

I would guess most kids have plenty of toys now, so wouldn't be bothered by getting a free one. When I was growing up we hardly had anything so any freebie was a massive deal. Even after I was married I used to love getting free samples through the door - sachets of shampoo, coffee, etc etc. Everything was very welcome.

@UnicornBrexit I thought you had to send off for those

I got a spoon in cocopops a few weeks ago

I'd really love chocolate in my coco pops.

Grumbles.

Unicorn I buy my son Aldi brand coco pops, I won't tell him this because he'll want the real things. Despite being a teen, his ASD makes him want free tat in things

Probably worried about a child eating one and them getting sued...

This takes me back to when I loved Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons (I was well over forty at the time.)

A cereal that none of us liked was giving them away so I bought box after box in order to complete my collection and made the DC eat the cereal. It was a joke in our family.

It took forever to get Captain Black but I did it!
I've still got the Captain Scarlett many years later, and he stands, guarding the house, on my bookshelf.

I remember the bike spoke thingies and above all those round rubber sucker things. Not sure what they were meant to do but DBro stuck one to his forehead and it took AGES to get it off...and he had a mark that lasted weeks and you can see it on his school photo lol. DM was not impressed.

Because no one needs more plastic tat. We never did and we never will.

It seems to be that coco pops still does then which is probably one of the worst cereals about.

I didn't mean to cause offence, didn't think about all the plastic, it was the nostalgia that made me wonder but obviously was thinking about the environment when I asked.

As a kid you loved them, and kids these days still love a bit of plastic tat.

As an adult I'm very glad they don't exist. One less thing for kids to pester their parents over.

I loved them! One of the few perks of being an only child was that I didn’t need to fight anyone for them.

They are on the front of every magazine instead, nowadays. All the magazines, all the tat. DD loved them all! Still get stuff on magazines as they get older, just turns into stationery and cheap makeup.

We never had cereal with toys in, but Granny did and used to save them for us. (Porridge and All Bran!)

Presumably to curb childhood obesity in some way, similar to McDonald’s fruit bags and their short lived books instead of toys. It’s ineffective but the companies have to be seen to be doing something.

Too many kids were eating them.

It's not just plastic though, is it. You used to get collectable cards and stickers. I assumed it's part and parcel of everything getting more expensive and manufacturers refusing to give back even a decimal point of a penny back to the consumers who make them rich.