1470: Kix

2015-01-07T14:37:25Z

Janni79: It's "John McClane", not "John McLane".

{{comic
| number = 1470
| date = January 7, 2015
| title = Kix
| image = kix.png
| titletext = My parents sent me to several years of intensive Kix test prep.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Whiteboard wording needs to be addressed, including the rhyming/plays on themes}}
{{w|Kix (cereal)|Kix}} is a children's breakfast cereal. Its slogan is "Kid tested, mother approved". This implies that the cereal has been tested by kids (i.e. kids like eating it), and it is good enough for a mother to approve for her children to eat.

The comic shows the possible brainstorming session of the company employees as they decide on the most effective way to complete the slogan. Several words (ranging from the not-so-appealing to the downright {{w|Not safe for work|NSFW}}) have already been deemed inappropriate for the slogan, which is evident from the fact that they are {{w|Strikethrough|stricken out}}.

The first two eliminated options seem to be attempts at creating a slogan in the same vein as the real world slogan, in that they say the mother has done something in relation to the testing of the cereal by the kid. In the real slogan, the mother approves of the cereal. In these two examples, the mother ''selected'' the cereal and perhaps ''perfected'' the cereal (possibly implying that one or more mothers were involved in the cereals formulation and/or development). There also seems to be an attempt at near rhyme with "tested" - something not evident in the real slogan.

The next several considerations appear to use an alternate reading of "Kid tested", implying that the ''kid'' was tested, not the cereal (to avoid such ambiguity, the authors of the actual slogan could have used dash between the words, i.e. "kid-tested", but this was not done). The options imply that prior to, during or after the "testing" of the kid, the mother was alternately ''not notified'' (of the testing), forced to ''watch helplessly'', somehow ''infected'' (perhaps by an experimental pathogen), and/or ''consumed'' (either as in ingested or as in distracted is unclear and may be intentionally ambiguous). There may yet again be an attempt at near rhyme in the proposal of "infected".

The final "mother" suffix that has been crossed out ("fucker"), is perhaps meant to be in the style of arguably arrogant and/or vulgar characters (most famously many of those played by Samuel L. Jackson, but also including Bruce Willis' character John McClane on several occasions), when making a statement addressed to some other character for whom the speaker has little or no respect, and in a similar manner to how one might address another person by their name, title, or relationship to the speaker (e.g. "I told you not to say that, Billy!", "I move for a vote, Mr. Chairman", "My homework is already done, Mom"), but instead using an epithet, as in "[this has been] Kid Tested, Mother Fucker!"

The title text indicates that Randall's parents thoroughly prepared him before eating the cereal (testing it), while also playing on the "Kid tested" portion of the slogan by suggesting the test was quite serious.

Many parents send their children to {{w|test prep}} schools to improve their scores on college {{w|entrance examination}}s such as the {{w|SAT (test)|SAT}} and {{w|ACT (test)|ACT}}.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Megan, and Cueball are standing around a whiteboard. The whiteboard on easel reads:]
:'''Kix'''
:<u>Slogan Ideas</u>
:''Kid Tested, Mother...''

:<strike>Selected</strike>
:<strike>Perfected</strike>
:<strike>Not Notified</strike>
:<strike>Watching Helplessly</strike>
:<strike>Infected</strike>
:<strike>Consumed</strike>
:<strike>Fucker</strike>

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1470: Kix