Former MP Asks Why a Monkey Represents Coco Pops and White Kids Appear on Rice Krispies Packaging

IN 1963, the Kelloggs Company introduced Coco the Monkey onto the packaging of their Coco Pops breakfast cereal.

Now 57-years later, disgraced former MP Fiona Onasanya who was jailed for three months for lying to the police has complained that the use of Coco is racist.

The argument she uses is that the cereal is very similar in make up to Rice Krispies which are promoted by three young white characters called Snap, Crackle and Pop but Coco Pops are dark in colour, although the monkey himself seems to have a white face.

There may be a subliminal message in this depiction, but as a fat person, this writer believes that Coco’s friend Hefty Hippo is fattist and no doubt former footballer Peter Crouch thinks that Shorty Giraffe is heightist.

Having said this however, if this was a new character then many would have more sympathy with the complaint but as it has been used for decades perhaps there is an element of picking on whatever happens to be handy just at this moment in order to gain a little notoriety.

Some will argue that the removal of Golly from Robertson’s Jam in 2002 was a perfect example of longevity and alleged racism no longer being acceptable.

At that time, a company spokesman stated “We are retiring Golly because we found families with kids no longer necessarily knew about him. We are not bowing to political correctness, but like with any great make we have to move with the times.”