General Mills a co-conspirator?
Posted on 11/12/2014 8:38:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Kellogg's cereal company is experiencing a backlash from Christian consumers who claim they'll no longer buy the company's products after it helped sponsor the Atlanta gay pride march in mid-October by using the beloved Frosted Flakes mascot, Tony the Tiger, in a pro-LGBT advertisement in the event's pride guide.
"Wear your stripes with pride," the Kellogg's ad states, highlighting the word "pride" in large-font rainbow-colored letters, while Tony the Tiger stands to the right with his arms crossed and a familiar smile on his face.
The American Family Association, a traditional Christian values activist group, posted a picture of the Tony the Tiger advertisement to its Facebook page last Friday and since then, the post has received over 800 comments. Many of the comments were highly critical of the company for using a cartoon character to promote homosexuality, while a number of other commenters stated that Kellogg's has no place, as a food manufacturer, to weigh in on sexual preference.
"Our policy toward corporate America and companies that serve the public is that we ask them to remain neutral in this battle over same-sex marriage," Ed Vitagliano, research director for AFA, told The Christian Post on Tuesday.
"We don't expect them to take our side but we don't expect them to support groups that want to legalize same-sex marriage," he continued. "So we let our followers and supporters know because these companies rely on the patronage of their customers; and there are a lot of people who, in their own states, voted to keep marriage between one man and one woman. I don't think they appreciate knowing that the companies they buy products from are working against that."
The pro-LGBT ad also included a seal in the bottom right-hand corner of the advertisement that indicates Kellogg's was listed by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay activist group, as "one of the best places to work for LGBT equality."
"At Kellogg's, we're an evolving culture that respects and accepts employees' sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression so that all employees can be authentic and fully engaged," The ad's message states.
Kellogg's is not alone in supporting homosexuality. As Gay Star News points out, "Today, 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have policies that protect employees from anti-gay discrimination, which is up from 51 percent in 2000."
Vitagliano also noted that since Kellogg's produces cereal and most cereals have cartoon characters associated with them, "They really have no choice but to put Tony the Tiger forward as the representative of Kellogg's making this statement 'wear your stripes with pride.' But we do not approve of charging children with this messages that their parents might not approve."
"This is an argument that our culture is having over the nature of homosexuality and we don't think cereals and cartoons should be bypassing parents to speak about moral issues to children without permission from parents. If that was Kellogg's intent then shame on them, and I hope parents take note of that," he asserted.
As Christian News Network points out, General Mills, a fellow cereal company, voiced support for same-sex marriage in 2012. As the company is headquartered in Minneapolis, its executives voiced opposition to a proposed amendment to Minnesota's constitution in 2012 that would have labeled marriage as only between a man and a woman.
General Mills' vice president of diversity, Ken Charles, issued a letter throughout the whole company saying that if gay marriage was banned in the state it would have made it more difficult to retain skilled workers.
"We do not believe that the proposed constitutional amendment is [in] the best interests of our employees or our state economy," Charles' letter stated.
General Mills has also used LGBT-themed advertisements to promote Lucky Charms and Cheerios in the past.
Tony should have stuck to selling cornflakes because he’s now lost this customer.
“It’s Gayte! !!”
I've given up most grains and refined sugars - which is most cereals. Try steel cut oats. Cook them for one minute, then let them sit covered for 5
Money talks. Stop buying all Kellogg products and tell them why.
All the breeders have to do is stop buying gay cereal and look watch happens. Another liberal “business” down the tubes.
Breakfast cereal is highly processed food & not all that good for you anyway. I switched to quick oats years ago.
By the way, the difference between quick oats & regular is just the size of the grain.
I used to be one of the biggest supporters of American big business, always going out of my way to both “buy American” and vocally stand up for them against libs and their (anti-capitalist inspired) attacks and such.
But frankly, with American big-business going all-in, supporting, funding, proting this endless depravity and perversion, I really no longer give a damn about them. Whenever some foreign country tries to put high tariffs on them, or our own government tries upping their corporate taxes, they no longer get a sympathetic ear from me. I’ll view them as any other garden-variety enemy to my values and beliefs.
I don’t eat cereal, but if I did, I’d boycott this brand.
Grrrrrr-oss!
I just buy the knockoffs.
You never lived inside a liberal’s head.
Do you have a list of companies to buy from?
This is really a no brainer regarding market share. Cater to 1% of the market share and lose 40% or cater the the Christians and lose 1/2% of the market share.
If you are old enough to remember, Fruit Loops were the successor to Kellogg’s “OKs” whose advertising character was one “Big Otis”, a muscular, smiling Scotsman who was a bit disturbing.
No, I don’t know what was under his kilt!
General Mills a co-conspirator?
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