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AMA OBJECTS TO KRAFT ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), prompted by inquiries from a number of its members, has asked Kraft Foods to reconsider its portrayal of motorcyclists in a current Nabisco advertising campaign. The
following article, entitled “The Devil, Prison…and Motorcyclists?” was published today on the Association’s website, AMADirectlink.com.

If you ride a motorcycle, then you just may be keeping some pretty interesting company, at least according to Nabisco and Kraft Foods. Nabisco’s `Corn Gone Wrong’ promotion, hoping to give its Cornnuts snacks a new image, shows cartoonish characters in three `hardcore’ scenes: as the devil, as criminals in jail, and in one more example of something `gone wrong’: on motorcycles.

After a number of AMA members contacted us to voice their objections, the AMA spoke with Nabisco officials. Nabisco is part of Kraft Foods, a company that markets everything from Maxwell House coffee to Oreo cookies, Kool-Aid and
Jell-O. Elisabeth Wenner, speaking for Kraft Foods, said this in a written statement: “We certainly did not mean to offend anyone with this ad. The intent of the ad was to celebrate the independent spirit and freedom of motorcyclists
and was in no way intended to discourage motorcycling.”

The motorcycling ad features three tough-looking cartoon characters riding down the road on choppers, while a wide-eyed rabbit flees being crushed under the front wheel of the lead bike. The tag line reads: `Surprisingly hardcore…in
seven mean flavors.’ The other two `Corn Gone Wrong’ ads feature a character dressed as the devil, and another of several of the characters in jail.

“Kraft and Nabisco have targeted a young market with these ads, in magazines like Teen, Spin, Marvel Comics and others,” said Tom Lindsay, the AMA’s public information director. “We’re concerned about the message this sends to kids,
and we find Kraft’s explanation sorely lacking.

“We suggest motorcyclists go to http://www.cornnuts.com/cn_cgw.htm and see for themselves,” Lindsay continued, “and then send a polite e-mail expressing their opinion to Michael Mudd, Senior VP for Corporate Affairs at Kraft Foods ([email protected]). We hope that Nabisco and Kraft will reconsider their decision to include motorcyclists in this promotion, and any future campaign that equates motorcycling with `going wrong.'”