PETA wins as Nabisco’s animal crackers will have redesigned packages to show animals ‘free’
The circus is bad…no, evil.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) can chalk up a victory by getting Nabisco to change the picture on its animal cracker boxes so the animals appear in an uncaged state.
For years the company’s “Barnum’s Animals” snacks came in a box that showed lions, polar bears, gorillas and elephants behind the bars of a circus boxcar.
PETA, which has spent decades protesting the use of animals in circuses, wrote a letter to Nabisco’s parent, Mondelez International, asking for the box that contains “Barnum’s Animals” to get a new look.
“Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public’s swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment, we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats,” PETA said in its letter to Mondelez, according to the New York Post.
The company agreed and now the animals appear roaming — or at least posing — freely.
“When PETA reached out about Barnum’s, we saw this as another great opportunity to continue to keep this brand modern and contemporary,” Jason Levine, Mondelez’s chief marketing officer for North America, said in a statement.
“The new box for Barnum’s Animals crackers perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman told the Associated Press.
The animal crackers’ box has been refreshed over the course of its 110-plus-year history. A spokesperson for Mondelez told USA Today, “It’s probably one of, if not the oldest, (product) in our portfolio. We’re always looking to see how to keep it modern, to keep it contemporary with customers.”