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WHAT I DON’T LIKE ABOUT MONDOS
(Last Updated: 11 August 2004)
While there’s plenty I like about Mondos, there are a couple of things I’m not so fond of, and this pages concentrates on those.
I’m afraid I didn’t like the lollipops. I did try one, but it tasted like solidified Raro, and was far too sweet and sugary for my liking. The Mondo box said you should keep the lollipop sticks to help you play, but I failed to see what’s so special about them, so when Mondos were being sold here, I donated the lollipops to my local Sallie Shop. (A little bit ironic in view of the fact that Mondos are now being sold through the Salvation Army across the Tasman!) The kids loved them! (The dentists of Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs are probably dreaming of holidays in the Caribbean funded by the bills from treating tooth decay that results from excessive consumption of Mondo lollipops from a certain Salvation Army shop ...)
Another thing that annoyed me somewhat is that because of the way the figurines are packed in with the cards, sometimes the cards can get a bit bent. This is especially true with figurines that have a wide base, like Marie Louise or Hiroae. It’s a shame if the cards are damaged right from the box! Unfortunately, the problem has persisted with the second series. Here is hoping it will be fixed in any future series.
Finally, while I’m glad that a second series was at long last released, I’m less than impressed at the way it has been marketed. Rather than sell them the way they did before, Mars simply dumped Series Two, along with its remaining Series One stocks, onto the Salvation Army! The Salvation Army in its turn only sold the first series (that nobody was interested in any more) before releasing the second! The only way to get the second series was buy it by the boxload. (Whether that’s still the case, I’m not sure.) And then only if you’re in the state of Victoria. Yes, most Australian Mondo collectors were as badly off as us in New Zealand when it comes to getting the new Mondo series. The Salvation Army in Victoria clearly demonstrated a severe lack of understanding of the collector mentality. If they’d sold the second series straight away, their sales would probably have gone through the roof. But no one is going to want to buy the first series, at least not in any great quantity. It seems the Sallies have been to the same school of misguided marketing strategies as Mars. And to think I once believed Mars had learned from the mistakes of Cadbury and others! Cadbury has since been doing a much better job, releasing two Yowie series a year, although so far in 2004 they have only released one and delayed that until the middle of the year. Ironically, their improvement in this area may well be due to the outstanding success Mondos enjoyed early on, which must have put a dent in Yowie sales for a while. Conversely, now that Mondos are finished, Cadbury may be deciding they can afford to slacken off with Yowies again.
Well, that’s what I don’t like about Mondos. But I’m also interested to know what gets your goat about them. So please e-mail me and give me the lowdown on the lows of Mondos for you. Provided you make it interesting, I’ll publish what you’ve said in the Museum Mailbag.
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