PEEPS SHANGHAIED
by Maggie Van Ostrand
Oh the humanity!
Wasn't it bad enough for the Chinese to commandeer 24's great, fictional hero, Jack Bauer, kidnapping him from right under the nose of his betrothed? And wasn't it enough to torture Jack physically and mentally, and then commit unknown atrocities upon his fiancé when she attempted to find and rescue him?
The answer is a big fat "no." Those heinous acts seem not to have been enough. Now the Chinese have ripped off another all-American icon, Peeps.
Peeps are a delicacy so adored by the public that it demanded more than a single traditional appearance at Easter as in the past, they demanded satisfying access to the phenomenal marshmallow delight each and every holiday.
My column about this American icon can be found at www.maggievanostrand.com/results.php?id=41 so you can read how beloved Peeps are. The news of outsourcing Peeps to China is mind-fracturing.
We should've quit at Chinese checkers, saving the "good" China for company, and letting our kids dig in the back yard until they got to China. Now China's got everything that used to be ours. Can we ever get it back?
The U.S. government does not penalize China for using child labor, or supplying us with fabrics that shrink and colors that run in the wash, or for putting poisonous ingredients in our pet food and deadly lead in the toys of our children. Our government doesn't even insist on labels alerting us that the beautiful fur boots we buy are made with the fur of a murdered puppy. I'm not making this up. It happens with deceptive labeling.
Nobody understands why we haven't put our collective foot down.
Now's the time. If we never strenuously objected before, we've got to do it now. Who is there left to protect the Peep? Their creators, Just Born, Inc. in Pennsylvania, have watched over them for over five decades with nary an unpleasant incident. Until now. In their zeal to improve their fabulous product, they have come up with a shape that defies packaging, at least in the U.S., so Just Born has decided to outsource to China, which has packaging facilities to accommodate the new Peeps shape.
What Just Born doesn't seem to understand, dedicated though they may be, is that we don't need anything more leaving the U.S. for China. If they go through with this deal, made prior to any knowledge of all the recalls of Chinese products due to serious problems including injury and death, the giant sucking sound politicians talked about at the inception of NAFTA will not be coming from Mexico, it's coming from China.
Just Born has made other changes that flopped: purple Peeps, blue Peeps, flat Peeps, and, well, Peeps in any other shape or color than the original plump, yellow, round-eyed baby chicks.
Write your congressman. Put pressure on your senator. Register your complaint with Just Born, Inc., 1300 Stefko Boulevard, Bethlehem, PA 18017, Main Telephone (800) 445-5787, Customer Service (800) 652-3267, Consumer Relations (888) 645-3453
We've got to stop this travesty or, next thing you know, there will be nothing left in the United States except foreigners.
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