FARE, or Food Allergy Research & Education, made news as a nonprofit earlier this year when they successfully asked Uber Eats to edit their Superbowl ad over concerns that it minded the seriousness of food allergies. Now, the group is calling for a Mars boycott over the candy-maker's "Hungry Skies" campaign.
FARE has released this video, featuring the audio of someone having an allergic reaction and the visual of a plane window overlaid with the following text:
"Recently, Mars Inc. unveiled their hungry skies ad campaign promoting Snickers bars as the best remedy for the stresses of flying. However, for the millions of Americans with life-threatening peanut allergies, this solution only exacerbates their anxiety. Mars Inc., your ad poses a serious risk. We urge you to remove it. Don't make the 'Hungry Skies' the deadly skies."
According to a Monday release from FARE, an airplane is a unique environment in which passengers are without immediate access to emergency medical care or personnel.
"While food allergy patients are advised to carry epinephrine autoinjectors with them, and many do, with more than 33 million food allergy patients in the US alone and 2.9 million passengers boarding flights daily from the US, there are going to be instances where the passenger may be without their epinephrine autoinjectors," the organization wrote.
For instance, passengers may not be able to afford their autoinjectors or they may have forgotten them. In some cases, a reaction to an allergen may outpace their medication, and sometimes a first reaction takes place on a flight.
FARE's video also featured the hashtag #BoycottSnickers. Snickers and Mars have not yet issued a response.
