Trolling people for a cause

Internet hilarity ensues when one man decides to defend the Rainbow Dorito

By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor

If your Internet experience has suddenly become more colourful, you were probably surfing the Frito-Lay website. Recently the snack food giant decided to do a little charity work, and created the limited edition Rainbow Doritos in support of the It Gets Better Project, a charity organization devoted to preventing suicide in the young LGBT community. The product is only available online, and all proceeds go to the cause. So, examining the facts so far: rainbows?—super fun, Doritos?—delicious, preventing suicide?—super awesome, so why then are people on the Internet so mad?

Recently there has been an influx of major brand names donning rainbow colours to show their support of gay and lesbian rights in the United States. I see this as a good thing, but not everyone agrees. Many people find it personally offensive that part of the $4.99 they spend on their favorite snacks is supporting communities they wish didn’t exist. Leaving aside my personal belief that those kinds of people are insensitive idiots, that isn’t what Frito-Layis doing with their little project. They are supporting teens and pre-teens not killing themselves, which I think is something everyone should be able to get behind. Obviously I’m not the only one, because one man, Mike Melgaard, decided to create a fake, but very official looking, Doritos Facebook account to hear and respond to complaints regarding Frito-Lay’s colourful new creation.

The comments section on the page is huge, and displays some of the best and worst that humanity has to offer. But one thing it isn’t is boring. Melgaard responds to the majority of comments in a witty yet educating way. One such example is an individual who commented on how major corporations “…have no business promoting political agendas.” Melgaard responded with “…with the ruling of Citizens United in 2010, corporations very much DO have business in promoting political agendas,” referencing a supreme court case in the United States where a law banning corporations from creating politically centred products was overturned, as long as the product was independent of specific candidate campaigns. Melgaard also goes on to point out that the Frito-LayRainbow Doritos actually aren’t a political product, ending his reply by asking how preventing suicide is “…taking a political stance?”

Other times, when the comment in question doesn’t really provide any arguable stance, Melgaard simply turns to being funny. In one such case, when an individual claimed he was no longer buying Doritos because he doesn’t support “perverts and child molesters,” Melgaard accused him of confusing Doritos with Subway.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Melgaard explained his actions, saying “At the end of the day, I want everyone to see the whole picture… Frito-Lay decided on an idea that would allow for anyone to voluntarily donate to a charity which specializes in suicide amongst the LGBT youth. Why is this important? It’s important because suicide is one of the leading causes of death for these young people. They’re literally killing themselves because they feel rejected and unwanted. The only ‘agenda’ taking place here is to prevent people from taking their own lives. When I break it down like this, I get this sick feeling in my stomach. I find it absolutely heartbreaking that these people are so narrow-minded and unaccepting of others’ views that they mistake everything as a personal attack on how they feel the world should be. I like to believe that what I am doing is productive partly because it sheds light on this type of thinking and how foolish it is. If I get even just one of these people to re-think their position, then in my eyes, I have done something good for the world.”

Whether you support LGBT rights or not, when you think of this in terms of keeping people alive, it’s pretty hard to argue with.