Gift With Purchase...Signature T-Shirt!

By Lisa Ovens

                                                       photo by Lisa Ovens

General Mills, the official cereal supplier to the Canadian Olympic Team and the 2010 Olympics decided to “Paint the Town Red” and get Canadians into the games by offering a free T-shirt. I stumbled across this give away a few weeks ago and decided I wanted in on some free Olympic swag: it can’t be all about the enamel pins! The red shirt is adorned with a white graphic shaped like a maple leaf, and its design consists of Canadian athlete signatures. It looks good.

I don’t usually buy boxed cereal. I am a “buy bulk, slow cooking organic oats for breakfast” kind of person these days. So I had to hit the grocery store to see what the selection would be. It seems to be either various Cheerios products or Oatmeal Crisp flavors. Oatmeal Crisps it is.

On the cereal box it says “Free signature T-shirt”. What they really mean is “Gift with Purchase”. It’s the only way to get the red shirt. Being the Maple flavour freak that I am, I chose Maple Nut.

Mini Review: Oatmeal Crisp Cereal

A bowl is about 260 calories (based on one cup dry cereal with milk). First of all, the box opened with ease. I’m a lefty and sometimes the package opening process doesn’t go well at the best of times. I garnished with carefully sliced strawberries, which for some could be considered risky blending the maple flavor with strawberry flavor. But the strawberries are in stock so I go for it. (Banana might be the better fruit pairing) This cereal tastes pretty good, but the crisps are quick to turn soggy. I am a little blown away by the sweetness of the Oatmeal Crisps, but what would I expect: I 'm used to eating organic oats and water with a little fruit. End review.

Now to get my free T-shirt...

Inside the box, I found the panel with the code needed. I logged onto General Mills website, and entered the code. Cool, it worked. I found out the shipping was on them – great! I arrived at the page to select my red or white T-shirt (the white one with red graphic “2010” was recently added). I selected red because it’s the one I know from the cereal box. Now things become dicey. When selecting the size, I am not able to check off the adult size medium, or any adult sizes. It’s not working. I call General Mills and ask the CSR about the glitch. She informed me there are no adult sizes left. “But this contest is only a few weeks old!” I exclaimed. Actually it started back in June she tells me. I said I wasn’t up on kid sizes, but this is approx. how big I am, "do you think a kids size large will fit?” She said the large would fit a teenager. I thanked her and hung up. I finished the transaction and received the confirmation email within 30 seconds. Start to finish, this was a good customer service experience.

I am locked in...The T-shirt is on its way.

Now, I am wondering why all of the adult sizes went first. Free offers on cereal boxes are usually considered kids territory. Once I am done with my box of Oatmeal Crisps, I just might pick up another one, get the code and order another shirt. But this time I’ll give it to a kid. We can’t paint the town red without the kids during 2010.

I’ll let you know when the shirt arrives!