Back to school season is all about new backpacks, new clothes, and even new hairdos. For Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats, this new school season is all about a new, inclusive look, with Braille stickers and re-recordable devices.
“We are committed to inclusion,” said Emily Minardi, associate marketing director of Rice Krispies Treats, “and we want everyone to have access to messages on our packaging.”
In the summer of 2017, Rice Krispies Treats released writable wrappers, which made it possible for parents to pen messages onto the wrapper of the chewy snack. While the message sharing became a popular way for families to bond over the lunch hour, it was 11-year-old Eme Butler-Mitchell, a blind student and musician, who reminded Rice Krispies Treats that not everyone had access to the written notes.
“With more than 62,000 blind and visually impaired children across the U.S.,” shared Minardi, “it was important to us to find a way to include this community.”
Rice Krispies Treats partnered with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) — the largest blindness organization in the U.S. — and began the process of making the Rice Krispies Treats writable wrappers inclusive to children and parents with vision loss.
“When we were approached by Kellogg’s,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the NFB, “we were very excited at the opportunity to raise the profile of blind people. There was a focus on building awareness around the idea that tech has not replaced Braille, and that Braille is still important.”
“In the U.S.,” continued Riccobono, “the idea of putting Braille on packaging has not gotten really far. Kellogg’s is the first to make such commitment, and I hope this serves as a springboard for more package and consumer goods with Braille.”
The stickers are heart shaped and the Braille dots are well defined on the adhesive paper; the eight colorful messages range from “Love You Lots” to “Good Luck.” The re-recordable audio device is for auditory learners, or kids who do not read Braille, and are rectangular shaped. It opens up like a book and plays a 10 second voice message. The box fits two Rice Krispies squares, and allows for voice messages to be re-recorded up to 1,000 times.
“This is our first campaign with a Braille focus,” said Minardi, “but Kellogg’s has a long history of working with the blind community.”
“Our founder,” she continued, “W.K. Kellogg, went blind near the last ten years of his life. He instilled a culture of inclusion that is still going strong today.”
While supplies last, you can obtain a free sheet of Braille stickers or an audio device at https://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/love-notes/braille-stickers.html