General Mills Denies Participation With Anti-Gay Pol & Obesity Campaign

A novelty gift item sparked a misunderstanding last week when U.S. congressman Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) mistook the gift of a custom box of Wheaties with his picture on the front for an endorsement deal.

Last week, it was reported congressman Aaron Schock announced via social media, a partnership between General Mills, the makers of Wheaties cereal, and the Campaign to End Obesity, a PAC working with the congressman.

Since publishing the article, EDGE was contacted by a spokesperson from General Mills who denied any formal agreement with the Schock or the Obesity PAC.

"The congressman's tweet you reference was inaccurate" the spokesperson stated. "General Mills is not involved with the Campaign to End Obesity, and we do not have an agreement with the congressman. We would like to request a correction, as it inaccurately states there is an agreement between the congressman and General Mills." �

The Wheaties Box at the center of the confusion was a novelty item presumably given to the congressman by the Campaign To End Obesity as part of their annual "Breakfast with Champions" event to honor Members of Congress at the helm of the nation's fight against obesity. Honorees at this event are traditionally given a box of Wheaties with their photo.

Upon receiving his personalized Wheaties, Wednesday, Schock released a photo of his novelty box on Facebook and Twitter with the following message:

Campaign To End Obesity partnered with General Mills to promote healthy living. How funny is this!?!!" #ihavearrived

Perhaps "funny" wasn't as apt a choice of word as "ironic" given the recent launch of the General Mills' Pride Month focused #LuckyToBe campaign for its Lucky Charms brand cereal and Schock's anti-gay voting record that earned him a 0% rating by the Human Rights Campaign.

In January, ' target='_blank'>it was reported former CBS News correspondent Itay Hod, ostensibly outed the congressman in a lengthy post on Facebook where he called out the two-term politician on the hypocrisy of an alleged recent sexual exploit in light of his long anti-gay voting record.

The Wheaties incident isn't the first time Schock's participation in social media has raised eyebrows. In January, Americablog ran a photo montage of his posts titled "The 7 gayest Aaron Schock Instagram posts of 2013."

"Is there anything more embarrassing than when a conservative anti-gay Republican finds out his Instagram account is queer?" reads the Americablog article. "That's the dilemma that seriously anti-gay Republican Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock faces with one of the gayest Instagram accounts on the Web. I mean, really, what self-respecting homophobe follows newly-out Olympic diver Tom Daley?"

Schock has since locked his Instagram account from public viewing and no longer follows Olympic diver, Tom Daley.

A customized novelty box of Wheaties can be purchased on the Wheaties website for $45. Get yours HERE!