Sugarbug’s Decay - Zaria Converse

I created this piece to inspire conversation around the health concerns of children’s breakfast foods. Breakfast cereal companies’ junk cereal uses bright colors, high sugar content, and cute characters to appeal to children, but children’s cereal contains over 45% of kid’s recommended daily sugar intake according to the American Heart Health Association. 

Studies have shown that children with poor breakfast retain information at significantly lower rates than their peers who get a well rounded breakfast. By engineering their foods to be addictive with strong appeal towards growing minds, breakfast cereal companies are doing our children a disservice and we should be more mindful of what we feed our children as well as urge for reform. 

I created this piece using clay, hand designed each of the 12 teeth to resemble a real full set of bottom teeth and act as the “grain” of the cereal, while the bright bugs were inspired by sugary charms.