Over the course of our campaign against Jon Stewart, we sent our complaint about his “vagina manger” stunt of April 16 to the major sponsors of “The Daily Show”; we made sure they received a copy of the picture flashed on the screen of a naked woman with her legs spread with a nativity scene ornament in between.
Although many of the sponsors remained agnostic—they did not have a response to our campaign one way or the other—we were taken aback by this response from Kellogg’s:
“We understand that our customers come from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles, and cultures and we respect their individual decisions to choose the television programs that they deem acceptable for themselves and their families. Consumers speak most loudly when they vote with their remote control and change the channel or turn off the TV if a program does not fit their personal criteria.”
In other words, Kellogg’s told Christians to shove it. But they made a mistake.
We responded by sending the indefensible picture to their senior management and board, as well as to community leaders, religious and secular, throughout Battle Creek, Michigan. In total, more than 700 photos were sent to the community.
We also called for a national boycott of all Kellogg’s cereals.
Moreover, we notified the public via TV, radio and our website about the collapse of decency at Kellogg’s—a company that was traditionally known as American as apple pie. This was just the start of it all. We had plenty of time and money, and gave the cereal giant more than enough free advertising. In fact, on May 10, Bill Donohue went after Kellogg’s on the number one radio show in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo—we took the fight right to the backyard of Kellogg’s.
What a shame that such a renowned company had sunk so low that it would actually underwrite and stand by anti-Christian bigotry.
In its “Global Code of Ethics” Kellogg’s boasts, “our heritage is based on a commitment to treat everyone fairly and with consideration.” Excluding the 80 percent of Americans who are Christian.
On May 20, we ran an ad written by Bill Donohue in the Kalamazoo Gazette that shook things up [click here]. We called on workers to press senior management into requesting an apology from Jon Stewart. It is a shame that it has come to this. We are asking everyone not to buy Kellogg’s cereals until this matter has been resolved.
