Kellogg is ‘sexualising’ cereal, conservative group run by ex-Trump adviser claims

The conservative organization called for the EEOC to investigate Kellogg, alleging it has ‘unlawful employment practices’

America First Legal — a conservative legal nonprofit run by Donald Trump’s former senior adviser Stephen Miller — launched a complaint against Kellogg, accusing the company of sexualising its products through marketing tactics.

In a Wednesday letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the conservative organisation called for an investigation into Kellogg, alleging it has “unlawful employment practices.”

“Kellogg’s employment practices are unlawfully based on ‘equity,’ which is a euphemism for illegal discrimination,” America First Legal wrote in the letter.

The organisation cited Kellogg’s diversity practices. From 2020 through 2022, racially underrepresented talent increased by almost exactly 2 per cent at the company, the group reported. “Advancing favored groups at the expense of others because of their skin color merits investigation,” the legal group wrote.

Then the group pointed to Kellogg’s commitment for gender parity in hiring practices, outlining the increase in the number of female employees working at the company from 2018 through 2023 across positions. This shift is “strong evidence that Kellogg’s is unlawfully preferring women in hiring, training, and promotions.”

Although that was the extent of the letter, on its website, America First Legal’s argument continued on its website.

“Kellogg’s management has also shown disdain and disregard for company shareholders,” America First Legal wrote on the site. “Despite the immense trust that hard-working American mothers and fathers have placed in Kellogg’s, management has discarded the Company’s long-held family-friendly marketing approach to politicize and sexualize its products.”

It said the marketing tactic targeted children, specifically in its 2021 pride ad campaign, in which it partnered with GLAAD—self-described as the “world’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer media advocacy organization.”

The group wrote, a purple box of cereal “depicts beloved and iconic characters such as Tony the Tiger®, Toucan Sam®, and Snap™, Crackle™, and Pop™ cheering around a bowl of rainbow heart-shaped cereal and Mini™, the Frosted Mini Wheats® mascot, holding an LGBTQ flag.” It continued, “The top and left panels of the box provided a fill-in-the-blank space for consumers to fill in their own pronouns.”

In 2022, in another partnership with GLAAD, the company used “iconic Kellogg’s cereal characters to advance an extreme social agenda,” America First Legal added.

Then the group touched upon a frequent target for conservatives: TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The influencer sparked a war between Bud Light and conservatives after she partnered with the beer brand, prompting prominent conservatives to boycott.

America First Legal pointed out that Tony the Tiger was seen “linking elbows” with the transgender influencer at a photoshoot in New York City in June 2023.

In response to the EEOC complaint, a spokesperson for Kellogg told The Independent: “At Kellogg, our aspiration is to better reflect the diversity of our consumers and to strengthen our inclusive culture. We are committed to compliance with all applicable employment laws, and we have policies in place that prohibit workplace discrimination.”

America First Legal has been making headlines this week, as the nonprofit challenges what it calls “woke” companies.

Earlier this week, America First Legal sued Target.

The suit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that the retailer failed to anticipate “social and political risks” associated with this June’s LGBT+-themed collection and claims the company “misrepresented its oversight because the board monitored only one side” when it came to factoring social issues into business decisions.