Gallery
| BIG WINNER | rnOREO rn STEALING THE KEEBLER ELVES' THUNDER | rn
Already a longtime symbol of racial harmony, the century-old chocolate sandwich cookie came out of the closet in June. A photo doctored to show a six-layer rainbow-coloured biscuit, since dubbed the “gay Oreo,” was unveiled on Oreo’s Facebook page to coincide with Gay Pride Month in the U.S. The photo received hundreds of thousands of Likes, while a competing “Boycott Oreo” page struggled to clear the double digits. Not that the (sadly) non-existent snack didn’t receive its share of negative comments. But Kraft Foods, parent company to Oreo-maker Christie, made no apologies. As Basil Maglaris, Kraft’s associate director of corporate affairs, told Reuters, "As a company, Kraft Foods has a proud history of celebrating diversity and inclusiveness. We feel the Oreo ad is a fun reflection of our values." While in the past it was—and to a large degree still is—rare for a major conglomerate to take a social position that might alienate a portion of its consumer base, a number of large corporations have shown support for gay rights recently, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Ford, JC Penney, Target and Starbucks. With celebrity declarations of gayness—such as CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s recent admission—now being greeted with little more than a shrug by most viewers, being gay finally seems to be beginning to lose its stigma with the general cookie-consuming public.
rn—by Conan Tobias
rnOreo
| BIG WINNER | OREO STEALING THE KEEBLER ELVES' THUNDER |
Already a longtime symbol of racial harmony, the century-old chocolate sandwich cookie came out of the closet in June. A photo doctored to show a six-layer rainbow-coloured biscuit, since dubbed the “gay Oreo,” was unveiled on Oreo’s Facebook page to coincide with Gay Pride Month in the U.S. The photo received hundreds of thousands of Likes, while a competing “Boycott Oreo” page struggled to clear the double digits. Not that the (sadly) non-existent snack didn’t receive its share of negative comments. But Kraft Foods, parent company to Oreo-maker Christie, made no apologies. As Basil Maglaris, Kraft’s associate director of corporate affairs, told Reuters, "As a company, Kraft Foods has a proud history of celebrating diversity and inclusiveness. We feel the Oreo ad is a fun reflection of our values." While in the past it was—and to a large degree still is—rare for a major conglomerate to take a social position that might alienate a portion of its consumer base, a number of large corporations have shown support for gay rights recently, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Ford, JC Penney, Target and Starbucks. With celebrity declarations of gayness—such as CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s recent admission—now being greeted with little more than a shrug by most viewers, being gay finally seems to be beginning to lose its stigma with the general cookie-consuming public.
—by Conan Tobias
