Miscellany: Toucan Sam, member of an endangered species

When I was a kid, it was pretty obvious that heavily sugared cereals like "Fruit Loops" or "Cocoa Krispies" just couldn't be good for you. Good Lord, they turned the milk into different colors. Nowadays, though, I guess kids (or, more likely, their parents) are too ignorant or indifferent to this basic fact. Some are growing up fat. The threat of government regulation and lawsuits has prompted food makers to curtail their advertising.

Toucan Sam and Cap'n Crunch are some of the more recent casualties of this phenomenon - animated food mascots appealing to children will soon be as verboten as a beer company airing ads during Spongebob Squarepants. It's sad when obesity is blamed on the food and not the consumer of that food, and it's doubly sad when this has the consequence of destroying some memorable spokesmen. I hope they don't move on to Ronald McDonald and the Coca-Cola polar bears.