Yahoo Finance Why this young girl is fighting Kellogg's over a cereal box
An eight-year-old Canberra girl has forced Kellogg’s to change its packaging of Nutri-Grain after claiming it was sexist.
She fought the giant company to get females on Nutri-Grain boxes after pointing out that “girls could also do something awesome” just as the boys on the box could.
The move came after Daliah Lee sent a handwritten letter to the cereal giant in May calling it out for its sexist packaging.
The schoolgirl’s mother Annabelle described the moment Daliah realised something didn’t sit right with the packaging on her Facebook page.
“One morning earlier this year Daliah was eating breakfast of Kellogg’s Nutri Grain and noticed that only boys were pictured on the box doing extreme sports. Not a girl in sight,” Ms Lee wrote on Facebook.
“She asked me what was happening and grabbed at the opportunity to write to Kellogg’s herself and ask them to fix it.”
In the letter dated May 10, Daliah asked: “Why can’t girls be on the back?”
“Can this please stop it’s not fair. Girls can do something awesome too.
“I’m happy because the Weet-Bix brand puts girls on the front and the back of the box. Please fix this.”
Kellogg’s initially responded to Daliah’s letter with a standard note thanking her for her feedback and advising that her comments “will be forwarded on to our product development team”.
The youngster described the correspondence as “kind of blah, blah, blah” so she started a Change.org petition to take her cause to a wider audience.
Kellogg’s promises to update Nutri-Grain packaging
The online campaign soon became noticed by The Canberra Times, with media coverage on Friday putting pressure on Kellogg’s to take the young feminist’s complaint seriously.
The company has since reportedly promised to change its Nutri-Grain packaging next year to include pictures of both males and females.
On Friday Daliah’s mother shared a section of Kellogg’s official statement to Facebook, confirming the news.
“We’re very proud of our long history, inspiring Aussies both males and females to live unstoppable lives with the Nutri-Grain brand and, in the past, have featured women on Nutri-Grain packaging,” she quoted the company’s response.
“Hearing Daliah’s passion and, as a company that values diversity and inclusion, we’ve decided that we will update the back of pack imagery with images of both females and males. This will be rolled out in 2019, so that we can continue to inspire all Aussies no matter their gender.”
Daliah Lee remains skeptical of cereal giant’s plan
The determined little girl, who has ambitions of someday becoming the Prime Minister, is pleased her suggestion was finally taken seriously and recognised, but said she refused to eat Nutri-Grain until she saw proof of the company’s promise.
“Only when I see the evidence they haven’t lied to me,” she told The Canberra Times.
Daliah’s victory comes after a Queensland nine-year-old schoolgirl refused to stand for the national anthem during assembly in protest over its lyrics that she said excluded Indigenous Australians.
