The American Family Association is taking to task the Kellogg Company, maker of numerous brands of children’s breakfast cereals, for being a leading sponsor of the Atlanta Gay Pride march and festival last month.
The iconic American brand even put an advertisement in the festival’s “Pride Guide,” advising gays to “wear your stripes with pride.”
“At Kellogg, 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,” read copy on the ad. This ad was emblazoned with a large image of Tony the Tiger—who, for more than 50 years, has been the mascot and logo of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal.
The ad also boasted that Kellogg had been recognized as one of “BEST Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”
“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,” according to one media account.
Posted Maria Trivisonno, “Good Bye Kellogg’s, you’re not so GREAAATTT!!! anymore.”
Facebook poster Kim Philpot chimed in: “The only way to hit these companies is where their hearts are—greed!!! money we must band together and stop giving them our money!!! Do you see them sponsoring any Heterosexual activities or Christian Activities?”
Added Aimee Johnson, “Tony the Tiger needs to be worrying about kid nutrition, not adult sex lives. This is pervy.”
“When will the owners of Kellogg sit down to learn about Christians? When will Home Depot teach about tolerance for Christians since they do for Muslims?” posted Teresa Duncan Johnson. “It’s not that Christians hate people of other religions or even homosexuality. It is that the minority is forcing itself upon people and expecting us to just sit down and shut up. Christians are peaceful. We don’t kill others or take away their rights. But you don’t want us, the majority, to have a say.”
Jessica Kelly raised an important question, “Why? Why use a cartoon tiger? Camel got heat for “marketing cigarettes to children” because of their cartoon camel. Is it just me, or is Tony now marketing a sexual lifestyle to children?
