Snack food in cyberspace

American Demographics, Feb, 1996 by Marcia Mogelonsky

Hey kids! Now you can use the Internet to talk to your favorite cookie!

Now you can have an "interactive eating experience" while you work. Both your brain and mouth can connect with Cid.Cyscraper cookies, which combine Internet play with paper-and-pencil games, adventure stories, and sugary treats in three flavors.

Games on the back of food boxes are not new. A "progressive baseball" game was featured on the back of Kellogg's Corn Flakes boxes as early as 1911. But Delaney Foods of Chicago has added a new angle, as the cookie character depicted on its boxes has its own e-mail address (cid@delaneyfoods.com) and site on the World Wide Web [http:// www.mcs.net./~Idelaney/home.html].

"Kids love using computers, and they are really getting into the Internet," says Laurel Delaney, general manager of Delaney Foods and developer of the Cid.Cyscraper products. "And kids also love to eat snack foods like cookies. It seemed like a great idea to combine the two."

The genderless Cid brings kids messages from the planet Neonet that are timely here on Earth. S/he urges kids to recycle, protect animals, stay in school, and stay off drugs. If that weren't enough, a portion of Cid's profits goes to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. And at no extra charge, a geography lesson is thrown in. The back of each box has a simple maze so that children can help Cid travel through Paris, Chicago, or Tokyo.

"We designed the product with a 'whole family' approach," says Delaney. "Even the youngest children can get Cid through the maze on the back of the box. Older children can contact Cid via e-mail or visit the character's Web page. Parents can correspond with Cid on behalf of their younger children via the U.S. mail and e-mail. Parents can also show children how to log on and access the Web site."

Cid's geography lessons are aimed not only at American earthlings, says Delaney. "Besides selling well in Chicago, we are having great success with the product in South Korea." The cookie is being exported to Japan and Germany as well.

Children are more likely than adults to use computers. Almost 59 percent of U.S. children between the ages of 3 and 17 used a computer in 1993, compared with 36 percent of adults, according to the Census Bureau.

Children use computers for playing games more than any other application, but older kids also log on to bulletin boards and e-mail with some regularity. Four percent of 14-year-olds spent their computer time on bulletin boards in 1993; 2 percent used e-mail, according to the Census Bureau survey. Those proportions are probably much higher today.

If Cid's cookies catch on, what could the next interactive eating experience be? Cid may invite his relatives from Neonet to join him on Earth and bring other snacks with them. Or could the future belong to virtual pizza delivery?