You Tell Us, Rockridge: Should Minions Be Used to Sell Candy and Junk Food?

Those lovable little Minions are getting a bad rap.

First, the characters were accused of blurting out swearwords after being released from children’s Happy Meals boxes at McDonald’s. Now, they’re being told to stay off the packaging of candy and junk food.

The Center for for Science in the Public Interest, a national nonprofit watchdog group that is the “organized voice of the American public on nutrition, food safety, health and other issues during a boom of consumer and environmental protection awareness,”issued a plea to NBCUniversal to remove the Minions characters from the packaging of candy and other low-nutrition foods marketed to children.

“The popular characters, clad in their goggles and blue overalls, are being used to market candy such as Fruit Gushers and Fruit by the Foot, as well as Cheese Nips, Pez, Tic Tacs, Jello, and McDonald’s Happy Meals,” stated CSPI in a release.

“Ensuring that your characters only are used to promote healthier products would be heralded by parents and the public health community,” wrote CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson and CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan in a letter to Stephen B. Burke, chief executive officer of NBCUniversal, parent company of Universal Pictures, the studio behind the Minions movie.

The Minions movie came out on July 10, and Business Insider is reporting that the film garnered $115.2 million in North America so far, making it the second-largest animated opening in history.

Photo via CSPI