Nabisco has officially changed the iconic box design of its famous Barnum’s Animals crackers after PETA complained that the cartoon elephants and lions were shown in cages.
The folks over at PETA, with nothing better to do with their time than inspect snack packaging for mistreated cartoon animals, actually wrote a letter to Nabisco complaining that their packaging contributed to the “exploitation of animals used for entertainment” because the animals on the front of the Barnum’s Animals crackers box were in a cage.
"Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public's swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment, we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats," PETA said in its letter.
In the old packaging, the cartoon animals were shown sitting in cages like at a circus, an image (again, a fake one on a box of children’s snacks) that had fit the theme of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s famous traveling circus, a 146-year-old production that shut down last year in part thanks to animal rights activists’ efforts.
In response to PETA’s letter, Mondelez, Nabisco’s parent company, actually redesigned the packaging on their 116-year-old animal crackers to depict a zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe and gorilla roaming free. Here’s a side-by-side of the old and new designs:
"When PETA reached out about Barnum's, we saw this as another great opportunity to continue to keep this brand modern and contemporary," Jason Levine, Mondelez's chief marketing officer for North America, said in a statement.
Good looking out for what’s really important, PETA. Countless at-risk animals are sure to be saved thanks to a new cartoon picture on a cardboard box.