no velma, no peace Forget Travelgate; forget the Jack-in-the-Box deathburgers; forget the mounting disquiet regarding Joe Biden's hair. The scandal of the year has just broken, and it's chewable.

Vitamins: Scooby-Doo
Manufacturer: Vita-Fresh, later Leiner Health Products (discontinued in 1991)
Characters: Scooby, Scrappy-Doo, Shaggy, Freddy, Daphne
Missing: Velma
Why? Leiner marketing manager Andrew Somerville: "Generally we seem as an industry to have four or five shapes, because the punches [the dies used to make the vitamins] are extremely expensive. Maybe Velma was controversial. Didn't she have a headband or something?" (Several days later, Somerville called back to say he'd found a late-edition Complete Formula package that had included Velma.)
Who made the decision? Vita-Fresh marketers, after focus groups were conducted before the 1983 launch.
Number of letters received annually about missing character(s): None. Lori Shelton, Leiner Consumer Relations: "We don't get a lot of Scooby calls. It's kind of a passé character."

Vitamins: Flintstones
Manufacturer: Miles Inc.
Characters: Fred, Wilma, Barney, Dino, Pebbles, Bamm Bamm, the Flintmobile
Missing: Betty
Why? Spokesperson Greg Decker: "You can tell the difference between Fred and Barney, and between Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, but you can't with Wilma and Betty. That's why they put the car in there. Children like different shapes."
Who made the decision? Unknown. But Decker notes that since the shapes have changed since the 1969 launch, "Betty may well have been part of the family at one point."
Number of letters: As many as ten.

Vitamins: Garfield
Manufacturer: Menley & James Laboratories
Characters: Garfield, Odie, Pooky
Missing: Jon the Human
Why? Tina Ellis, Garfield licensing director at United Media: "Jon is sort of an ancillary character who hasn't broken into the product line. To be perfectly honest, I can't see some kid who takes vitamins saying, 'Give me a Jon today.' It's not quite as exciting to eat a Jon as to eat a Pooky." Menley & James spokesperson: "We have no comment."
Who made the decision? Ellis says Garfield creator Jim Davis and representatives from United Media and M&J held a number of meetings to design the product. "We decided Jon wasn't the strongest character we could use."
Number of letters: "We don't expect any."

Vitamins: Bugs Bunny
Manufacturer: Miles Inc.
Characters: Bugs, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky, Petunia
Missing: Tasmanian Devil, among others
Why? Asked why Porky's obscure girlfriend was included, Decker says he isn't sure but that "they do tests with these things. Again, it's the various shapes." Michael Peikoff, vice president of publicity, Warner Bros. Consumer Products: "Miles has made the determination. We bow to their experience in the vitamin business." But why Petunia? "She's a great counterpart to Porky." Not just because she's a girl? "That's speculation. She's a great counterpart to Porky."
Who made the decision? Miles marketers, after focus groups were conducted before the 1971 launch.
Number of letters: One or two.

Vitamins: Peter Rabbit
Manufacturer: Mead Johnson
Characters: Peter
Missing: Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail
Why? Mead spokesperson Holly DAmour: "Peter is easier to distinguish from the other bunnies, because he wears a jacket. Flopsy, Mopsy or Cottontail would be very hard to distinguish, when you get down to something the size of a vitamin."
Who made the decision? Mead's marketing department. DAmour: "I think the decision was more intuitive [than based on research]."
Number of letters: None.