Great news for lovers of cardboard animals. Boxes of Nabisco animal crackers will no longer feature images of cartoon animals in circus cages. Beginning this week, the animals will appear roaming free: The zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe, and gorilla have escaped their cages and are enjoying free-range life in what appears to be an African setting. Animal-rights activists, especially People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, had pushed for the change for years, arguing that the old images portrayed a time when the cruel confinement of animals in traveling circuses was an accepted convention.
The new look is okay with us, although we suspect the cardboard zebra may not be too happy about it. That free-range lion is bound to get hungry eventually.
In fairness, the change was overdue. The old red-and-yellow boxes with caged animals debuted in 1902—an era when, as the New York Times explains, “Americans had a very different view of exotic wildlife. Zoos and traveling circuses were entertainment destinations to observe animals that had been plucked from habitats halfway around the world.” Now we just watch them on YouTube.
