The cereal’s history and John Harvey Kellogg’s sexual ideology need to be distinguished. WK Kellogg’s company history dates its cereal origins to 1894, not 1878. That history does not establish that Corn Flakes were invented specifically to prevent masturbation.
John Harvey Kellogg’s own writing does document punitive attempts to suppress masturbation. In the 1881 edition of Plain Facts for Old and Young, he advocates circumcision without anesthetic as punishment for some boys. This historical connection to bodily control is the basis for the thematic association here, not proof of why a cereal box was placed in the film.
Primary source: Plain Facts for Old and Young, “Treatment for Self-Abuse”
Circumcision and castration are different acts. The connection here is an interpretation of bodily control and injury across the imagery.
This thematic reflection also ties in with the “sliced” “halved” aspects, and the jarred pickled peppers, kosher dill slices, and other castration imagery:
In this image · No.7