There’s a strong stench of paid advertorial to Inside the Superbrands (Channel 4, 10 April, 8pm). The latest episode saw presenter Helen Skelton visit Kellogg’s mega-factory in Manchester. Upon seeing the Special K logo, she gushed: “It gives me that warm feeling, from seeing something that you know and conjures up good memories.”

“You can’t say cereal without saying Kellogg’s,” Skelton added, as if workshopping the brand’s next slogan.

After a production process rundown from the Inside the Factory playbook, and a potted history of the brand – without scrutiny of the urban legend that John Harvey Kellogg invented cornflakes to stop people masturbating – Skelton visited Cereal Killer café co-founder Alan Keery, who injected some much-needed cynicism into this milky bowl.

Keery revealed how cereal mascots were born to tempt kids. “They all look down from the boxes – looking down at the kids,” he noted. Toys in boxes soon followed.

There were very few tough questions for the Kellogg’s head of communications about this strategy. The company, and Tony, had changed its stripes, he argued. Skelton’s mild criticism was followed by her conclusion: “I think it’s easy for me to be over cynical about a company like that.”

Besides, Kellogg’s is healthier now, the programme made a laboured point of explaining. There was no mention of HFSS rules instigating such change.

Despite the highly interesting subject matter, the programme lacked snap, crackle or indeed pop. A soggy effort without crunch.

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