[Bigg Red]

I went back and read it, and I can see that you are correct, PJ. Excellent explanation, too. Thanks.

The piece is still awkward writing, though, IMO.

[Political Junkie Too]

Well, as Arthur McGowan pointed out, the unreal situation is not so unreal as boxes contain and don't contain characters, so it could be a case of misapplied subjunctive rather than subject/verb mismatch.

Rather than the author writing "...children who had been asked to taste a "new" cereal reported liking the same cereal more if there were a popular character depicted on the box," he should have written, "children who had been asked to taste a "new" cereal reported liking the same cereal more if when there were was a popular character depicted on the box."

Anyway, that's how I would have written it if I were the writer. :-)

-PJ