Cheerios Removes Bee, Not the Honey, from Cereal Box

As part of a campaign to bring awareness to the declining honeybee population, General Mills is temporarily removing the image of mascot Buzz from Canadian cereal boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. While the company has made an effort to direct consumers to the “Bring Back the Bees” campaign—via a URL displayed prominently next to the outline figure of Buzz—General Mills is doing nothing to reformulate the cereal to omit honey, the consumption of which plays a major role in bee colony collapse. Instead, the campaign asks Canadians to replant 35 million wildflowers to aid in bee repopulation. Co-founder of vegan honey alternative Bee Free Honee Katie Sanchez recently revealed to VegNews that year-round demand—in items such as Honey Nut Cheerios—has become a major stressor on bee populations.