Image Is Everything

Chuck E. Cheese is getting a reboot. Way back when, about a week ago, Charles Elliot Cheese looked like your average, baseball cap wearing rodent. Sometimes he appeared in skateboard gear, just to show off his hipness to all the kids. Just not quite hip enough. The powers that be at CEC Entertainment Incorporated have decided to give him a makeover. Mister Cheese will now appear as an electric-guitar-playing rock star. There was no mention as to how this might impact the flavor or taste of the pizza at their restaurants, but that's never really been the reason for lining up at Chuck E. Cheese, right?
I have a very painful memory of they way they messed with my Quake, back in the day. He started out as this burly miner with a hard hat, and when they were finished with him, he was this tiny-waisted super hero-ish guy wearing a hat best suited for the Australian outback, not the mines. How was he supposed to stand up to Quisp's taunting now? At least they left Quake's primary motivations intact. I can remember being asked, as a youth, if I thought it would be okay for the rabbit to have some Trix. I believe that it is in the hearts and minds of every rabbit to know what is best for every individual rabbit, and if Trix will fix what ails them, who am I to stand in their way? I know Trix are for kids, but sometimes they are for poor, afflicted, desperate rabbits.
At least Trix has done us the favor of maintaining one particular rodent for that product's lifespan. The same cannot be said for Cocoa Krispies. The mascot for that breakfast treat has had at least nine different spokescharacters over the past fifty-four years. Is it that hard to sell puffed bits of rice that have the magical attraction of turning your milk chocolaty? You could sell that to me with a picture of burning tractor tires on the front of the box and I would eat it.
But I'm not everybody. Apparently there aren't enough millions of dollars being spent at the place where parents take their kids when they want to combine a video arcade with Disneyland and Shakey's. A rat with a Stratocaster strapped to him will bring them in droves, I'm sure. I guess that's why I'm still watching "Mad Men."