Former MP questions Kellogg’s over Coco Pops monkey when Rice Krispies characters are white
A former Labour MP has written to Kellogg’s to ask why its Rice Krispies packets feature “three white boys” while Coco Pops boxes display a monkey, amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
Fiona Onasanya, who last year became the first sitting MP to be jailed in three decades after being convicted of lying to police officers over a speeding fine, took to Twitter to question the cereal company’s choice of mascot.
The intervention comes after protests have erupted across the world following the killing by police of George Floyd, a black man who had repeatedly told officers who were restraining him that he was unable to breath.
She said: “@KelloggsUK, as you are yet to reply to my email – Coco Pops and Rice Krispies have the same compòsition (except for the fact CP’s are brown and chocolate flavoured)… so I was wondering why Rice Krispies have three white boys representing the brand and Coco Pops have a monkey?”
Kellogg’s said that it “stands in support of the black community” and that the monkey mascot features on both white and milk chocolate Coco Pops and highlights the “playful personality” of the brand.
Ms Onasanya later tweeted: “Well, given John Harvey Kellogg co-founded the Race Betterment Foundation (the Foundation’s main purpose was to study the cause of and cure for ‘race degeneracy’), it would be remiss of me not to ask.”
The cereal company was founded by John Harvey Kellogg’s brother William Keith Kellogg, although the pair did come up with the recipe for Corn Flakes together.
A spokesman for the company said: “It’s important that we are all talking more about how we can build racial equality. Kellogg stands in support of the black community.
“We do not tolerate discrimination and believe that people of all races, genders, backgrounds, sexual orientation, religions, capabilities and beliefs should be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.
“The monkey mascot that appears on both white and milk chocolate Coco Pops, was created in the 1980s to highlight the playful personality of the brand.
“As part of our ambition to bring fun to the breakfast table, we have a range of characters that we show on our cereal boxes, including tigers, giraffes, crocodiles, elves and a narwhal.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/former-mp-questions-kelloggs-over-113654224.html
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