This is the tale of Franken Berry Stool: an officially recognized ailment that, although it seems goofy now, sent more than one kid to the ER with technicolor pink poop.
In March of 1971, hoping to piggyback off the success of Lucky Charms, General Mills introduced a new line of "Monster Cereals"—marshmallow-studded grain puffs with slightly spooky mascots. The first to arrive were Count Chocula, a cocoa-flavored vampire, and Franken Berry, a strawberry-tinted monster. In the advertisement announcing their arrival, the pair talk up their their nascent rivalry. "Don't be scared," Count Chocula says, popping out of a coffin-like cardboard box. "I'm the super-sweet monster with the super-sweet new cereal!"
Suddenly, a massive finger intrudes from stage left, followed by a big, pastel-pink brute—Franken Berry. "Piffle!" he yells, in a British accent worthy of Boris Karloff. "Here's the super-sweet new cereal." It was a tough call. Count Chocula's cereal had chocolate "sweeties." Franken Berry's had strawberry ones. Both were, indeed, super-sweet. How was a red-blooded American kid supposed to choose?
The answer, for some kids, was easy: only one of them made going to the bathroom fun.
