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Conservative watchdog group accuses Oreo of “grooming children” because of PFLAG partnership

This isn't the first time the cookie company has been the object of conservatives' ire

Senior Food Editor

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Oreo Cookies seen on a store shelf. (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Oreo Cookies seen on a store shelf. (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group, has accused Oreo of “grooming children” because of the cookie company’s longtime partnership with PFLAG, the country’s first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ people and their families.

In addition to publishing a 30-second video titled, “Is Oreo…Grooming Children??” the organization writes: “NLPC owns stock in Oreo’s parent company, Mondelez International, and will sponsor a shareholder proposal at the annual meeting in May. The nonprofit corporate watchdog and shareholder activist initiated its campaign to highlight the cookie-maker’s inappropriate relationship with PFLAG after it noticed the brand’s social media accounts – primarily on X.com (formerly Twitter) – were heavily populated with posts in support of PFLAG’s various narratives, causes and social advocacy.”

This isn’t the first time Oreo has come under fire from conservative political groups and individual politicians for their support of PFLAG. As Salon Food reported in 2022, after the company and organization partnered on a tearjerker of a video about coming out called “The Note,” right-leaning pundits, including Ben Shapiro, called for a boycott of the brand. For his part, Newsmax host George Kelly tweeted a picture of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster with a rant that read, in part: “I do NOT like GAY COOKIES.  'Sexuality' has NOTHING TO DO with the Cookie experience.  Cookies are for ALL!”

By Ashlie D. Stevens

Ashlie D. Stevens is Salon's senior food editor. She is also an award-winning radio producer, editor and features writer — with a special emphasis on food, culture and subculture.

Her writing has appeared in and on The Atlantic, National Geographic’s “The Plate,” Eater, VICE, Slate, Salon, The Bitter Southerner and Chicago Magazine, while her audio work has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and Here & Now, as well as APM’s Marketplace. She is based in Chicago.


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