Replace god ?
Better hurry up before the lunatics take over the asylum:
cbs.marketwatch.com
Cheerios maker apologizes for Bibles
By Debra McGarry, CBS Marketwatch
Last Update: 5:14 PM ET Jul 22, 2000 NewsWatch
Latest headlines
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS.MW) -- Cereal maker General Mills issued a public apology Friday for putting free software versions of the Bible in 12 million of its cereal boxes which will be on shelves nationwide next month.
The $10 million software and cereal promotion involved giving away CD-ROM games, dictionaries and Bibles, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The General Mills apology said the Bible distribution was against the company's policy.
"It is the company's policy not to advanced any particular set of religious beliefs," said the General Mills statement.
The apology was a rebuff to Grand Rapids-based Zondervan Publishing, which had given free licenses for the 12 million to 13 million software copies of its New International Version of the Bible.
The Minneapolis -based cereal maker claimed it didn't know the Bible had slipped into the lineup of games on the CD-ROM s "without our knowledge or consent."
Gregory Swann, founder of Rhinsoft, the company that helped make the CD-ROMs, told the Detroit paper that General Mills' claim was "a flat out lie." Swann, described in the article as an evangelical Christian who wanted to combine software marketing with his desire to spread the Gospels, told the paper he had worked on a strategy for nearly a year to slip the Bible into the other content. The Bible was part of a "Reference Library" for home computers that also included a dictionary, thesaurus and a one-volume encyclopedia.
General Mills (GIS: news, msgs) announced this past Monday that it will buy Pillsbury from London-based food and drinks conglomerate Diageo PLC for about $5 billion in stock. The company, which makes some of most popular cereal brands such as Cheerios, Wheaties and Chex, saw its shares add 1/16 to close at 35 5/16 Friday.
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Debra McGarry is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com. |
