Kellogg workers were on strike outside a plant in Battle Creek, Mich., on Tuesday.
Photo: Alyssa Keown/Associated Press
This week about 1,400 workers at Kellogg went on strike. One thing is clear: The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union doesn’t represent Kellogg‘s marketing department. Photos showed a single picketer drawing on his employer’s iconic brands—Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger declaring “I’m Greedy,” without so much as an extra “r.” For a campaign aimed at a company with products ranging from Rice Krispies to Pop-Tarts, Bear Naked and Cheez-It, it is a missed opportunity.
Luckily, the internet rose to the occasion. One commenter on Twitter TWTR -0.45% said the strikers “should milk it for all it’s worth.” More than one advised them to “snap, crackle and stop.”
Most of the fun surrounded the quandary facing consumers torn between a campaign to boycott the company until workers’ demands are met and their addiction to its products. “In solidarity, the eggo must be leggo,” said one, while another remarked that “Special K” was still available for purchase on the dark web.
Not to be outdone was the satirical site The Onion: “Guess it’s back to shredding my own wheat,” said one of its “American Voices” interviewees. Another Onion feature showed a maze on the back of a box of Froot Loops. “Uh-oh, it looks like the greedy union workers are blocking our friend Toucan Scab’s way into the plant—can you help him find a path so we can break their strike?”
Write to Spencer Jakab at [email protected]
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Appeared in the October 9, 2021, print edition as ‘OVERHEARD.’
