Is Breakfast Sexist? Why Are There No Female Cereal Mascots?
“Is breakfast sexist?” is a question I never thought I would have to ask myself. But it’s 2021 and we’re all collectively losing our minds, so here we go. Why are there no female cereal mascots?
It all started with this TikTok:
@everydayalex
“Today I realized there are zero female cereal mascots,” @everydayalex begins. “You could be a human, an animal, or a mythical creature. It doesn’t matter — if you’re repping cereal, you’re male.”
And it’s true. @everydayalex takes us through the breakfast aisle, from Rice Krispies (“elves are feminine,” he points out, “but they’re still boys!”) to Lucky Charms to prove not a single woman exists in the magical realm of mythical cereal mascots.
“I want my future daughter to see an inspiring mascot,” he says. He’s right. We all want our future daughters to see an inspiring mascot. Preferably representing carbs and tiny marshmallows.
Because why would cereal be sexist? Is there some general assumption in the breakfast industry that women (and girls) don’t enjoy cereal? Do little girls not want to see themselves represented on the backs of cardboard boxes while consuming pure sugar before 8 in the morning? What is the reason?
TikToker @garbagehumans has a lot of opinions on the question “Is breakfast sexist?”
@garbagehumans #stitch with @everydayalex I NOTICED. He’s right!
“I’ve been screaming about this for years. … I made a f*cking PowerPoint presentation, hold on. It’s called ‘Why Breakfast Is Sexist’ and it’s 20 f*cking slides long. And I was hammered by the end of it.”
Please send us this PowerPoint.
“And every time I bring it up someone is always so quick to say ‘What about Rainbow Bright? What about Dora the Explorer?’ Those are not mascots, those are characters who have their own cereal. It’s different. It’s different.”
Apparently, this is a phenomenon the United States as a country have been aware of for some time now. In fact, as far back as 2013, Jezebel wrote a very serious report on the lack of female cereal mascots. And they cautioned readers against the potential dangers of sexist cereal policies.
“[K]ids love sugary breakfast cereal, and if their first experience of every morning in their young, bleary-eyed lives is to cozy up to a bowl of glazed cornmeal with their good pal Tony, they’re going to be conditioned to 1) not take nutritional advice from women, 2) expect tigers to not be bloodthirsty land mammals with a taste for child blood. Those are the lessons the cereal conglomerates of America have been teaching kids since merchandizing gave every pop culture icon a cereal, and every cereal an endearing mascot.”
And yet, the year is 2021 and nothing has been done.
Are we no longer thinking of the children?
Have you noticed the lack of female cereal mascots? Why is breakfast sexist?
This article was originally published on April 9, 2021. It has since been updated.
