No 'noodz' is good news: customers accuse Kraft of sexualizing mac 'n' cheese
When the Kraft company responsible for America’s favorite mac and cheese set up a promotion asking people to “send noodz”, they thought customers might see the funny side of their pun. Instead, their Instagram was quickly flooded by parents lamenting the company for sexualizing mac and cheese.
The promotion encouraged adults to send their loved ones boxes of Kraft’s Mac & Cheese noodles. In a broadcast since removed from the internet, Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Bayer says to camera: “In these strange times, people are in need of extra comfort. That’s why it’s always a nice gesture to send noodz … To be clear, I’m not advocating you send nudes to anyone. Send noodz, not nudes.”
But outraged customers have complained that Kraft is a “family company” and have even suggested that the advert is a gateway to children actually sending nudes. One customer told Buzzfeed’s Tanya Chen that the post “grooms children into believing it’s
OK and even FUNNY to “send noods”..
“Horrible. Never buying Kraft again,” another wrote in response to the promotion. “If you’re going to use children in your advertising then you should NEVER have advertisements like your noods commercial,” wrote another.
Things escalated quickly. Soon, some posters were using the campaign to spread the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that a gang of Satan-worshipping Democrats and high-profile celebrities routinely traffic and abuse children. “We’re all trying to save our kids from you grooming monsters! Take down your noods campaign!!!!!!” one angry customer wrote.
(While the conspiracy theory is clearly ridiculous, it also has had an outsized impact on political discourse, and has caused real-world harm.)
The response that ensued was enough to cause Kraft to halt the campaign, remove content related to the promotion and apologize publicly.
“For National Noodle Day last Tuesday, we encouraged adults to send free noodles to loved ones to provide comfort and make them smile. The social promotion resulted in 20,000 consumers across the country receiving boxes of America’s favorite Kraft mac ’n’ cheese. We sincerely appreciate and hear all of your feedback. The content will be removed from our channels,” it said in a statement to its Instagram.