Status: Urban Legend
A recent ad for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes shows a blond-haired kid dancing around singing "They're going to taste great!" I think this is a British ad. At least, I've never seen it here in America. And all the references to it I've found occur in the British press. For instance, David Whitehouse writes in the Guardian:
Pity the poor Kellogg's marketing department... all they wanted to do was make an advert in which a chirpy young scamp would skip his way through the streets of a suburban town attracting other children like a Pied Piper with a silly ditty about his breakfast. So, they set out to hire an angelic young choirboy with a voice so beautiful it could shatter the beaks of songbirds. Then disaster struck. It appears that, on the way to the shoot, this choirboy's balls dropped with quite monstrous results. They wanted Aled Jones, but they got Mick Jones. And what we're left with is a jingle being sung by a boy at the exact moment his voice breaks, in a tone so monotonous it appears to be operating at a frequency which toys with people's bowels. It is, quite simply, the worst soundtrack to an advertisement ever. His voice is so oppressively dull that prolonged listening is like having every orifice systematically packed full of wet bread by a politician with no facial features.
Evidently this is the kind of ad that people love to hate. And this dislike has inspired a rumor that the kid in the ad is dead. (Google
'Frosties Kid' and you pull up page after page of rumors of his death.) There are two versions of the rumor:
1) That the kid committed suicide on account of the bullying he received since the ad aired.
2) That the kid was a cancer patient whose dying wish was to star in a Frosties ad.
I don't know who the Frosties Kid is in real life. So I can't prove that he's alive. But there's absolutely no evidence to support the claim that he's dead. Plus, the 'Frosties Kid Is Dead' rumor seems to be a new variation of the 'Death of Little Mikey' rumor (which alleged that Mikey, of the Life Cereal commercials, died after eating Pop Rocks). So I think it's safe to assume that the Frosties Kid is still alive. (Thanks to Dave Tolomy for telling me about the rumor.)
Update: As Dead-Eric noted in the comments, Scott Mills of BBC Radio 1 recently discussed the 'Frosties Kid Is Dead' rumor on his show. Mills received the following official statement from Kelloggs about the rumor:
"The current advertisement has been well received by the vast majority of our customers. We would also like to take this opportunity to confirm that the lead boy within the advertisement is well and continues to live in his native South Africa."
You can listen to an mp3 clip of this portion of the Scott Mills show
here.
Comments
Easy enough to say, yea, he would get bullied by people at school, because that's what children do and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I heard that he jammed pencils up his nose after being bullied at school and moving to South Africa..Rumors. Who cares?
There's so many of them that you'd think he's a cat with nine lives.
but yeah
hes not dead you mofo's
hes living his irritating and 'great tasting' life
in south africa.
Savvy?
now go play in traffic.
What an absolute fuss over nothing. Its an advertisement for a breakfast cereal. It is not a war epic, or the greatest story ever told. Okay its pretty bad, but you know what, I bet nearly everybody you has seen it or heard the tune, has either whistled it OR had a little hum, or sang along to the yune, I know I have. And do you know something else, all this extra advertising, is giving Kellogs all the boost it needs. What irritates me thr most though and totally horrifies me, IF it is true, that this young boy has either killed himself or has died, then why is everybody slating him???? He is a young boy, who was picked to star in an advertisement. I bet he was so proud. Is it his fault that his voice broke?? Did he write the lyrics?? Did he come up with the concept of the ad?? NO!! All he did was turn up, do what was asked of him, got well paid, and probably still is with the royalties, and went home. End of story.
I personally hope and pray that this "urban myth" turns out to be false, and that the lad involved is living the high life.
Well done lad. You did all that was asked of you. I wish you well.
And to everybody who has beratted hiom, ENOUGH ALREADY, LEAVE THE LAD AND THE ADVERT ALONE. GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO WORTHY TO TALK ABOUT, FOR EXAMPLE....WORLD PEACE!!!!!!
The tune irrita-ates
The words were done by a guy with an IQ of ay-8
It's quite despera-ate
And easy to sla-ate
The rhymes they use are absolutely patheta-ake
etc. etc.
Theyre guna taste great
theyre guna taste great
i can hear the sound of frosties hitting me PLATE
theyre guna taste great wif tony our mate
everybody nos frosties taste great..
even ladies hu wait
or a PI-RATE
and your teenage brothes hus out on a date..
if u live in aus mate
or the empire state
even ladies wif personalsed numba plates
or a bloke in a crate..
well he knows they taste great
theyre guna taste greeeeeeeaaaaaaat
theyre guna taste greeeeaaaaaaat
theyre guna taste GREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAATTT! (and he busts his gang$ta moves)
loves it
http://forum.football365.com
And he's not dead. Hear that? NOT DEAD. But probably so ashamed of the whole thing he wishes he was (like teenagers do)
he is great in the sack!
(if you no what i mean)
😉
bit gimpish, but awsome! lol
xxxxxxxxx
Following reports from UK based newspapers, South Africa's Sunday Times interviewed Sven Ruygrok and his mother, who were amused but concerned about internet interest in the advert. Sven's mother reported that it was not her son singing, and that the advert funded a successful gymnastic event in Berlin. Sven Ruygrok attends Beaulieu College and is a candidate for South Africa's gymnastic team in the 2008 Olympic Games.
goodbye xxx
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article62049.ece
see!
Though all the hate mail is really getting on my nerves, he's just a kid! jeeez! all this is so harsh on him! "I hope he dies" and whatnot, it was just one little advert, there's loads of annoying adverts on tv! Just leave the boy to live in peace, because if he died and I was joining in on the hate mail I'd know for sure I would be ashamed for contributing to a young chaps death