Back in August, we reported that General Mills would be tying its famous Monster Cereals into election season with a “Monsters Cereal Election” campaign. The boxes are decorated like spooky, silly Presidential campaign posters with the three monsters, Franken Berry, Boo Berry and of course Count Chocula giving their best “Vote for me!” poses.
We don’t like to get political here at Bloody Disgusting, but the bombshell Atlus Obscura has uncovered about one of the candidates is just too big. We’d be doing a disservice to the nation’s horror fans if we didn’t reveal it…
In 1972, Franken Berry put a kid in the hospital for four days due to fear of rectal bleeding.
When Franken Berry was introduced in 1971, it utilized Food, Drug and Cosmetic Dyes No.’s 2 and 3 to achieve its appetizing shade of pink. These dyes couldn’t be broken down by the human body, however so they came with the unwanted side-effect of turning poop pink.
The ailment officially known as “Franken Berry Stool” is detailed in this Pediatrics case-study written in 1972 by John V. Pain, but the gist of it is that after letting his digestive track clear, doctors gave the kid four bowls of Franken Berry. They waited a little while and Lo-and-behold, his poop came out bright pink.
Luckily, there weren’t any other symptoms. “Physical examination upon admission revealed in no acute distress and with normal vital signs…” Payne said. “Physical examination was otherwise unremarkable.”
Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you feel about it), dye No. 2 was outlawed in 1976, so your poops are safe from changing shades. But if you really want to give it a nice shade of blue, Boo Berry will allegedly do the trick.
October is always full of surprises in election season, and we’re happy to see the same holds true even for Monster Cereal elections. Hopefully this doesn’t hurt Franken Berry too badly in the polls.