While not nearly as nutty as Kellogg’s LEGO-shaped “Fun Snacks,” Maxell’s soon-to-be-released iPod earbuds — shaped, painted and expressly packaged to look like M&Ms — are likely to put some liability lawyer’s kid through college sooner or later.
Gizmodo weighs in:
iPod accessory maker Maxell is going to release music player earbuds that look like many kids’ favorite candy-coated chocolate candy. What could possibly go wrong?!
Even the packaging, by design, screams “EAT ME!” And, also just like the candy, these buds come in multiple colors for maximum toddler confusion: Red, pink, blue, orange, and white.
Granted, the $10 earbuds may be a borderline choking hazard — notes a Gizmodo reader: “Even the most toothy tot is going to have trouble nibbling through wire” — but you might think Maxell’s in-house counsel would have put the kibosh on this one just out of caution.
I mean in the very same press release where Maxell touts the M&Ms buds — the very next paragraph — you get this heartfelt dose of corporate concern for the well-being of our children:
Kids Safe(TM) Headphones and Kids Safe(TM) Ear Clips
Maxell Corporation has introduced the new Kids(TM) Safe Headphones and Kids Safe(TM) Ear Clips. Designed with children’s listening needs in mind, these new headphones assure safe listening levels to combat the dangers of hearing damage at a young age.
I’m still stunned — every time I go grocery shopping — that neither Kellogg’s nor LEGO opted for the safe route. My kids like a particular kind of “fruit” rollup — CrazyFeet by Betty Crocker — and finding this delicacy requires careful examination of dozens of competing brands, including the astoundingly stupid “Fun Snacks.”
As I wrote this past summer:
There’s really not a much gentler way to phrase it: The biggest name in breakfast foods and among the most iconic names in toys have put their ingenuity and marketing genius together to create a fruit-flavored treat — LEGO Fun Snacks — that is so mind-numbingly irresponsible that at first I presumed it was a joke.
We’re talking about a children’s snack shaped like the tiny plastic building blocks that every kid fortunate enough to have toys has put in his or her mouth at one time or another — or a hundred.
How long before we see a LEGO-shaped iPod earbud?
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