Kellogg’s Wipes Logo From Pop-Tarts Boxes After A Strike It Claims Is Unrelated
Is this a half-baked initiative to separate the product from controversy? As detailed by Boing Boing, Kellogg’s has removed its logo from Pop-Tarts packaging, asserting that doing so would make everything on the box, erm, pop even more.
This confirmation by the conglomerate comes at a pretty convenient time, seeing as how Kellogg’s is currently at the center of criticism over its labor practices. That brand name is bound to leave a less-than-sweet taste in the mouths of consumers, who have even threatened to boycott the company’s products.
About 1,400 workers employed in four US cereal plants have been on strike since October due to its two-tier compensation system awarding newer staff lower wages and benefits than longer-tenured employees, as per a report by the New York Times. While longer-service laborers make more than US$35 per hour on average, those who joined the company after 2015 earn an average of almost US$22 per hour.
Veteran employers are also concerned that, in a predictable bid to hire lower-paid personnel, Kellogg’s would re-assign a portion of older workers’ salaries and benefits to recruitment practices.
The company later threatened to permanently replace workers on strike for causing a “prolonged work stoppage,” adding that it was left with “no choice.” This prompted a response from President Joe Biden, who proclaimed that he was “deeply troubled” by Kellogg’s resistance to listen to employees, instead choosing to remove them from their jobs. He called it “an existential attack on the union and its members’ jobs and livelihoods,” as quoted by the Times.
@KelloggsUS hey I have a question! Why are you guys removing the #kelloggs branding from specific products that you sell?
— Nevada_Man (@_NevadaMan) December 17, 2021
Is it because of something something supply chain issues? pic.twitter.com/OjEr652hSk
When a customer asked the brand why the Kellogg’s logo is no longer on Pop-Tarts boxes, a social media representative interestingly responded: “Our data show that consumers routinely focus on the visual of the Pop-Tarts brand name, so we simplified the package design by removing ‘Kellogg’s’.”
After public outrage for replacing 1,400 workers who went on strike b/c Kellogs made them work 80 hrs/week & cuts workers' pay & benefits despite massive profits—@KelloggsUS is removing its own name from its products in hopes you keep buying them
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) December 18, 2021
A reminder of Kelloggs products: pic.twitter.com/D2aLkyIQiZ
Thank you for reminding me that Kellogg's makes Pop-Tarts by posting about why you removed the Kellogg's logo from Pop-Tarts. Now I will never forget that Kellogg's makes Pop-Tarts, so that I can stop buying Pop-Tarts because they are made by Kellogg's.
— Anapa, Ankh-angel (@AnapaDracul) December 17, 2021
Submit to the strikers.
On December 16, Kellogg’s said it reached a tentative negotiation with employees. Its new labor contract is good for five years, and includes an increase in wages “across the board,” a more streamlined path “to legacy wages and benefits,” and better no-cost healthcare.
[via Boing Boing and New York Times, images via various sources]
