Fortune Cookie Company Cleans Up 'Racy' Romantic Fortunes After Complaints From Parents
The world’s largest fortune-cookie manufacturer has received complaints from parents about its romantic themed fortunes they deemed too racy for children.
The Brooklyn-Based company, Wonton Food told the New York Post that it is cooperating with parents that have complained about not wanting their children to receive fortunes that are more catered toward adults.
The fortunes include those that read, “One who admires you greatly is hidden before your eyes,” “Romance and travel go together,” “The evening promises romantic interest,” and “A romantic mystery will soon add interest to your life.”
“Some parents sent us e-mails. They said they didn’t want their kids reading them,” Derrick Wong, a VP at Brooklyn-based Wonton Food told the Post. “Different people have a different perspective.”
While Wong insists that all fortune messages have to be G rated and not offensive, the company is phasing out the more romantic fortunes with ones that are both complementary and kid friendly, such as, “You make every day special,” “No one on Earth is as beautiful as you,” and “Only love makes us see ordinary things in an extraordinary way.”
Another Wonton Food VP, Danny Zeng, said that if he receives more than two or three complaints about a fortune, it will be removed from rotation.
“We want to put messages inside our cookies that don’t upset a single person. We don’t want customers to have negative feelings,” Zeng told the Post.
According to the Post, the company has a catalog of approximately 10,000 fortunes and has about 5,000 in rotation at any given time. The company that produces over five million cookies every day is constantly trying to improve its fortunes to keep patrons happy.
One infamous fortune, “You will inherit a great fortune soon,” was recently updated to, “You will take over a great fortune soon,” because people were worried about the fortune coming true and their relatives dying, according to Zeng.
Fortune-cookie expert Jennifer B. Lee, author of “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles,” told the Post when it comes to more amorous fortunes, its best to keep them neutral.
“This makes sense because romance is tricky. There’s no one size fits all,” Lee said.
“You never know who will get the cookie. ‘You will meet a tall, dark stranger,’ means one thing to a 20-year-old fashionista — and another to a 6-year-old kid. Romantic messages aren’t one size fits all.”
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