Reason # 4234 – Corn Flakes, Mind control, and Manipulation

John Lennon was inspired to write Good Morning, Good Morning by watching a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Commercial. It made its way onto the hugely popular Sgt Peppers album. He found the catchy jingle irritating enough to make a song from to irritate the entire world.

Another Corn Flake inspired masterpiece came in the form of I am The Walrus.
Listen to this rare outtake as an example of how far Lennon would go to push the public in whatever direction he fancied.

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This particular version was scrapped for being much too blatant. Besides, they didn’t hold enough shares in Kellogg’s to make this pitch worthwhile. The beatles had more important things to sell, mainly themselves.

But really, advertising is the only reason this band exists today at all.

Does it strike you at all odd that when the Anthology Volumes 1 & 2 were released a few years back it made headlines internationally? Think about it, the same old shit you already own on cd, plus some outtakes and b-sides that have never been good enough to be released or played on the air to this day. That’s news?
How about the fact that to coincide with this release there was a six hour network TV broadcast on several channels?(available for purchase now) You would have to be an idiot to think this is all coincidence, goodwill, good timing, or even public interest.
It was a six hour infomercial!
If they wanted to sell you a beatle juicer and a beatle butt-plug, you would have bought those too.

This was a merciless, overwhelming assault on the general public for the sole purpose of putting more crap by these fake rock icons on the bestseller shelves. It didn’t start there, and it didn’t stop there. The entire reason for beatlemania in the first place was a well executed, well thought out, multi-billion dollar advertising blitz. Actors were paid to faint during their concerts and help incite the young crowds, their posters were hung in every record store and on every corner, their faces on the cover of every magazine, and when they travelled to the US they were already huge stars. In 1964…..WITHOUT EVEN RELEASING ANYTHING!

THEY HADN’T EVEN BEEN PLAYED ON THE RADIO YET!!!!

BEATLEMANIA WAS CREATED TO SELL MEET THE BEATLES IN AMERICA!

Once again, if you think I’m making this up, here is a copy of the original December 1963 Capitol Records memo for sales managers and regional managers, outlining the initial “Beatles Campaign”. Click to open and read it for yourself, friends.

I especially like the National Record News section on page two, where they describe how they created a magazine to promote the beatles with a four page spread. Here’s the excerpt:

“NATIONAL RECORD NEWS – BEATLE ISSUE”
Publicity Director Fred Martin has concocted a simply marvelous vehicle for spreading the Beatle story. It’s a four-page tabloid newspaper which looks deceptively legitimate. But of course it’s our doing, and all it contains is picture after picture and story after story on the Beatles.

You’ll be getting huge quantities of this tabloid. How to exploit it? Send bulk copies to major retailers for distribution to consumers. Offer bulks to jocks for give-away. But most important, make arrangements with local high schoolers to distribute them to fellow students after school (check with George Gerken on those arrangements).
The idea is to get as many copies of this tabloid as possible into the hands of potential Beatle buyers. Don’t, under any circumstances, end up with any large quantities of this tabloid sitting in your back room. They won’t help there!

Unless people wake up, the FF marketing campaign will never stop and the beatles will continue to exist as everybody’s favorite commodity. If you have to listen to them, at least know why you bought the albums. Love. Beatles Naked. Beatles One. Think about it, thats all I ask.

In the words of the immortal John Lennon: “The Queen’s intelligent. It won’t spoil her cornflakes.”

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October 20th, 2007

16 Responses to “Reason # 4234 – Corn Flakes, Mind control, and Manipulation”

The Letter 'B' Says:
December 7th, 2007 at 8:36 am
[...] Reason # 4234 – Corn Flakes, Mind control, and Manipulation – 1 votes [...]
Mind Control Says:
March 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
No, I doubt you’re making it up. I’ve read of mind control devices in pervasive use these days- why, even department stores play subliminal music at a 60 beat per minute rate that urges you into a buying rage!
bleh Says:
September 28th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
i didnt know about good morning, good morning written about cornflakes…
go take some lsd and take the stick out of your ass and just chill out dude
Das Says:
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 am
Its funny how nobody ever intentionally listens to this band without the assistance of drugs.

“I see colours in the music, man”

“Far out, trippy. Octopus’s Garden is freaking me out dude.”
Ida Sullivan Says:
October 31st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Silly person! When they were flying American Airlines to the USA for their last concert at Candlestick Park, The stewardess was offering food to Ringo, and it fell into the bowl of Cornflakes being eaten by John. Milk and Cornflakes splashed all over John. He signed a photo to the stewardess, saying “thanks for the cornflakes”.

Sometimes, ideas are born of funny life experiences, not plots or mind control.
Brandon Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Indeed, some ideas are born of funny experiences, but not the beatles.
Jennifer @ Natural Hair Restoration Says:
January 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I’m so happy to find out I’m not the only one who cannot stand the Beatles! I must have listened too much to it as a baby in the 60’s
Norcs Says:
January 13th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Jennifer – Welcome to the club!!
Steve Says:
July 5th, 2010 at 12:53 am
U all suck except for Beatles fan anybody else I have two words for:
F-u-c-k Y-o-u for all of you dumbasses on this site that hate the Beatles that includes the creator of this site to that spells

FUCK YOU
Steve´s last blog ..Let it Be- Sailor
Mr. On Says:
July 6th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Re: Cornflake ESPecially;
Certain that the grain futures sector of the economy & breakfast food manufacturers wanted the ‘FF’ to hawk cereal more blatantly then just the commercials aired during their 1965 ABC-TV cartoon show; it was a license to print $$$, yet they never appeared in one commercial or even endorsed any up to that point in their careers, unlike The Rolling Stones on BBC’s “Top Of The Pops” w/ Mick & the boys singing ’bout the ’snap-crackle-pop’ of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBmhEMFdl0
or later the other manufactured faux 4, The Monkees:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMc9W2IQ7PM&NR=1
They did at least 6 or so of ‘em;
The Beatles apart from the two Lennon corny compositions never actively made a reference to a a certain brand of cereal or even any of the characters, as the BIG 3 cereal manufacturers- Kellogg’s, GM, & Post -used kiddie friendly cartoon characters from either the Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward, or Total Television stable.
Except for maybe 1968, The Beatles ‘white album’- McCartney has two ditties that may have thiscloseasimilarity to kiddie ‘toon cereal pitchmen: “Rocky Raccoon” & “Blackbird” coincidentally on the “Linus The Lion-Hearted” cereal/toon fest there was a “Rory Raccoon – Hometown Hero” and his friend “Crowy”- a blackbird;
Don’t forget also that Lennon & Yoko Ono shortly thereafter in ‘69 released an LP entitled “Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions”…
Stays crrunchy, even after you pour on the milk!
Das Says:
July 8th, 2010 at 6:18 am
Mr. On, thank you for this invaluable comment. I used to be of the opinion that the Stones were launched by beatlemart as the ‘bad boy’ alternative to the squeaky clean FF. I see now that I had it all wrong and completely underestimated them. That was the best cereal commercial ever!
E Fish Says:
September 17th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Public Relations, advertising, random associations…. this is “mind control”? I guess you escaped its evil clutches with your powers of critical thinking, but I think a better word for all these supposedly dubious connections is simply “capitalism.”

The Beatles were commercial? Wow, who woulda thunk?? You’re a genius, Das!
Zoyelque Says:
March 28th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Ah yea they were stars because they played a lot in England live,29 song shows sometimes even more,thats how the frenzy started,whats next your gonna say that they were invented in laboratorys to do that,please,they were the point of the lance in the british invetion,even Keith Reichard agreed in his interview with Humpter s,thumpsun ,they Broke the door.
snobo Says:
May 12th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Broke what door? They made it safe for cute white boys to do three-chord rock?
Stelth Says:
July 30th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
I see the beatles more as anal beads than butt plugs.
The beatles all Come Together Says:
November 15th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
[...] product placement, the cornerstone of the beatles empire. It’s somehow alright to have Corn Flakes forced into your ears, but Coca-Cola rubbed the tea and crumpets engorged censors the wrong [...]