Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Rainbow Oreo Controversy

I read a news article today that indicated there are some people who want to boycott Nabisco / Kraft, the makers of Oreo cookies.

The cause of the controversy is at the bottom of this post.  Its a graphic that was put up on Oreo's Facebook fan page as an acknowledgement of Gay Pride Day on June 25.

First of all, I have to give the folks at Kraft a round of applause.  Its not easy doing anything that could cause controversy these days.

A radio program director I worked for nearly ten years ago wrote the most disappointing post I saw on Facebook today relating to this photo.  His post stated he was adding his name to the boycott list.  I don't really care except it occurred to me that he has a problem with gay people and I never knew that during the time I worked with him.  It was confirmed when I responded to his post and he unfriended me.  That was disappointing.  I did a Google search and discovered that he has gone from working in radio in Phoenix (market 15) to Shreveport, Louisiana (market 135).  Maybe he was uncomfortable with the number of gay people who live in Phoenix.  Now that he's unfriended me, I'll never know.

America can be a tough place to live.  The people in this country are divided in many ways.  Religion, the color of your skin, who you love, politics... that's the tip of the iceberg.  Many people's beliefs are so extreme that it leads to ignorance, hatred or even violence.  Most of the time I'm not sure how we all manage to get along well enough to avoid civil war.  Hopefully one won't break out as a result of a cookie.

The marketing people at Oreo were gracious enough to acknowledge a segment of their customers yesterday.  Gay people eat cookies, too.  They finally caught up with the folks who make Fruit Loops with all of those different colored rings in their cereal as well as the makers of Lucky Charms, who have had a rainbow on the front of their cereal box for decades.

I wish they'd actually manufacturer this cookie for distribution.  That much delicious Oreo creme between two chocolate cookies would be almost as awesome as sex.  Almost.

Photo courtesy facebook.com/oreo