Free Cereal
This morning’s newspaper came with a nice surprise – two free boxes of breakfast cereal were in the special plastic bag that holds the paper. There was a small box of Honey Nut Cheerios and a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, along with coupons to save 75 cents at the grocery store on a full size box if you like the cereals.
It is always nice to get something free to try – it surely must open the minds of a good percentage of people who might not otherwise try a particular food or drink but soon discover that they actually like the product. Part of this is due to favoring brands or flavor with which you grew up or are accustomed to eating and drinking. Part of it is due to a natural resistance to try new things without some incentive. And part of it, in my household anyway, is that the person doing the grocery shopping is a creature of habit and only searches out the brands and items that we know we like or prefer so they can get finished with the chore of shopping and get back home as quickly as possible.