Super Eco

Photo credit: Disney

Mickey Mouse eggs had the world of eco-blogs roiling yesterday as everyone, blinking, replayed a 15-second commercial broadcast during the Today Show. Yes, Mickey Mouse, Mater, Woody and the princesses, stamped on the lily-white shells of a dozen eggs. Licensing gone too far? All we need as "proof of the evils of agribusiness and the coming apocalypse"? A really lame attempt to get kids to eat "this complete breakfast"? Perhaps it's not as bad as all that.

While I hesitate to get excited about how "great tasting, nutritious, and fun, too!" Disney's eggs are, especially when compared to the high-powered eggs of my own backyard chickens—who, it's certain, eat a more varied diet and get way more room to roam than the chickens at whatever Magical Farm to which Disney has licensed its characters—I also hesitate to call this the apocalypse. Disney made major changes to its food licensing requirements two years ago, when CEO Robert Iger announced the company's "name and characters only will be used on kid-focused products that meet certain guidelines in terms of calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar." Disney eggs are part of a healthy food strategy.

Want to really blow your mind? Disney is using Winnie the Pooh and Mickey to sell organic apples. The mouse can also be found as a Venetian gondolier on a box of organic pasta. It may be a bit ridiculous to put the characters on whole foods. But I'd rather my kids ate organic apples and boiled eggs than Disney Princess gummy bracelets (which Disney no longer licenses). And, as I doubt that consumers committed to buying free-range organic eggs will be wooed by the Disney eggs, consumer behavior won't change for the worse because of this product.