Politics

Kellogg’s redesigns cereal boxes after Twitter complaint of ‘racist’ brown corn pop

According to some, racism is everywhere.  On Wednesday, USA Today reported that Kellogg’s announced that it redesigned Corn Pops cereal packages after it received a complaint on Twitter about an alleged racist corn pop spotted on the back of the box.

“Why is literally the only brown corn pop on the whole cereal box the janitor?” asked Saladin Ahmed, current writer of Marvel Comics’ Black Bolt series and author of 2012 fantasy novel Throne of the Crescent Moon. “[T]his is teaching kids racism.”

“[Y]es its a tiny thing, but when you see your kid staring at this over breakfast and realize millions of other kids are doing the same,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

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It only took Kellogg’s about five hours to respond, telling Ahmed: “Kellogg is committed to diversity & inclusion. We did not intend to offend – we apologize. The artwork is updated & will be in stores soon.”

That was fast…

Others, by the way, weren’t impressed with the complaint:

https://twitter.com/BradyHeilman/status/923238678511669251

Probably about the time a Portland principal said she could spot racism in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“When you give a cereal a face, does it qualify as a living being? Inquiring minds (apparently) want to know,” Amy Kuperinsky wrote.

Good point…

One person suspected there may be sexism at play as well:

Another person observed:

USA Today added:

In a statement to USA TODAY, spokesperson Kris Charles said Kellogg respects all people and is committed to diversity.

“We take feedback very seriously, and it was never our intention to offend anyone,” he said in a statement. “We apologize sincerely.”

He confirmed that the package artwork has been updated and will begin to appear on store shelves.

The Kellogg’s Corn Pops incident follows some other recent marketing snafus.

Earlier this month, Dove apologized for a three-second video posted on Facebook that many found racially insensitive. The clip showed a black woman removing a brown T-shirt to reveal a white woman underneath, who then with another T-shirt removal became an Asian woman. An image showing just the black woman and white woman spread virally on social media, causing additional outrage.

According to Dove, the clip “was intended to convey that Dove Body Wash is for every woman and be a celebration of diversity.”

Shea Moisturizer Shea Moisture apologized for an online video ad about hair products sold at Target earlier this year, USA Today said, noting: “The commercial featured white women, but the hair product company has long catered to women of color.”

Breitbart.com, a site which was targeted by the company, reported:

t’s not the first time Kellogg’s has demonstrated its hypersensitivity to leftist pressure. The company pulled ads from Breitbart News in November following leftist complaints, declaring that our more than 45 million monthly readers are “not aligned with [Kellogg’s] values as a company.”

Breitbart responded with a #DumpKellogg’s campaign, which led to more than 435,000 people pledged to stop buying Kellogg’s products. Kellogg’s went on to report a $53 million loss in the fourth quarter, while also facing a plummeting stock price. Kellogg’s CEO John Bryant denied that the losses had anything to do with Breitbart’s boycott.

What do you think? Is a brown corn pop racist? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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