Marvel Writer Slammed For Calling Kellogg’s Racially Insensitive

Kellogg’s has decided to redesign its Corn Pops cereal boxes after the United States-based food manufacturer was accused Tuesday of being racist.

Marvel Comics’ Black Bolt series writer Saladin Ahmed made the accusation. He pointed out that though the boxes show other corn pops having fun inside a retail mall, a brown corn pop could be seen working as a janitor, waxing the floors.

He said that though it was a "tiny thing," it could impact the children in the society.

However, within hours of Ahmed’s tweet, the food manufacturer responded with an apology on the microblogging site.

Ahmed appreciated Kellogg’s for the prompt response.

After the fiasco, Kris Charles, Kellogg’s spokesperson, in a statement to USA Today, said that the company was committed to diversity. "We take feedback very seriously, and it was never our intention to offend anyone. We apologize sincerely," he said. He also confirmed the artwork was updated and would be out in stores soon.

While the Marvel writer seemed satisfied with the response, Twitter was not impressed with Kellogg’s for their decision. Many users on Twitter suggested it was getting really easy to get offended these days. One user responded to Ahmed’s tweets saying the corn pops do not have a race.

Interestingly, in a similar incident, Dove also apologized for a three-second video earlier this month. The video showed a black woman removing a brown T-shirt to later reveal a white woman, who then became an Asian woman after removing her T-shirt. The advertisement provoked a strong reaction from some people who alleged the commercial was racially insensitive.

Dove later apologized on Twitter saying, “An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.” The offending advertisement was then removed.

However, some reports suggested the commercial widely shared on social media was an edited one and the original commercial was not meant to be racially insensitive. For instance, a USA Today report said that according to the company’s statement, the initial clip was intended to convey that the body wash was for every woman, a celebration of diversity.

Dove invited trouble back in 2012 too when its VisibleCare product advertisement featured three women — one black, one Latina, and one white — standing in front of “before” and “after” signs to promote the company’s body wash.

There was another similar incident back in April when Shea Moisture apologized over an online video advertisement about its hair products that were on sale at Target. The commercial featured white women, although the hair product company has long catered to women of color.