Conservative group One Million Moms (OMM) is up in arms over Kellogg's recent 'Jam It' ad for using what they regard as inappropriate language and double entendres disguised in a kid-friendly context.
Onemillionmoms.com, an online project of the American Family Association, aims to give a voice to parents who want to ensure quality children's programming in television. It has earlier figured in campaigns against Adult Swim's Black Jesus, the TV series How to Get Away with Murder, 2 Broke Girls' mocking of Jesus and the Nativity, and Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid.
On their website, the group is calling on parents and concerned citizens to call the breakfast cereal giant and ask them to stop airing the commercial, especially on channels devoted to children's programming.
"Kellogg's new Pop Tart commercial includes a double entendre that is inappropriate and unnecessary. Foul language or the implication of it is not needed in this commercial, but that is exactly what Kellogg's intended with their play on words," the campaign page reads.
The ad features a mother and father pop tart discussing the peanut butter and jelly features of their baby. Then, a nurse walks in ready to devour the baby pop tart saying "Time for a feeding," the parents exclaim: "No! Ah, Jam It!"
The phrase, according to the group, sounds suspiciously like a curse word that may encourage children to mimic it. They claimed that it is a reflection of the company's poor regard for the effect of its commercials on impressionable young minds.
"Kellogg's executives apparently don't care about what children hear as long as it puts money in their pockets. Everyone knows kids repeat what they hear. This is weak marketing, and Kellogg's should have the corporate responsibility to not use an age old euphemism that offends families," the campaign further states.
OMM's campaign page includes Kellogg's links and contact information so that citizens can connect directly with company representatives to request for the pulling of the ad.
While the commercial has raised the hackles of parents, some members of the media believe that the outrage is merely an overreaction to the advertisement.
Edge Media Network's Bobby Maguire wrote: "With this latest campaign, Kellogg's joins fellow consumer package goods corporations Kraft and Nabisco along with major network NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and fellow cable networks the Disney Channel, The Cartoon Network and Hub Network as well KMart, JC Penney, Macy's, Kohls, Toys 'R' Us and Walt Disney World, who all wish that One Million Moms would shut their jam mouths."
