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Oreo 'rainbow' picture sparks protest

NEW YORK, June 27 (UPI) -- Oreo set off an online brouhaha when it posted a picture of an Oreo with a six-layer, rainbow-colored filling, with one U.S. commenter calling it "disgusting."

Oreo, part of Kraft Foods, posted the picture Monday evening, accompanied by the words "June 25" and "Pride" and a caption that read, "Proudly support love!" It wasn't clear what the ad was referring to, Adweek said, while noting June 24 was the first anniversary of New York's Marriage Equality Act, and also the date on which the San Francisco gay pride was held.

With 26.9 million fans on Facebook, Oreo is one of the most successful brands on the social media site, Adweek said. The Oreo with the rainbow motif touched off a split reaction among fans, the trade magazine said, with several saying they won't buy Oreo cookies anymore and one commenting: "I'm never eating Oreos again. This is just disgusting."

Another decided the picture called for "Unliking page and the rest of the 'kraft' family products... i will not support a company with these views."

A poster who appreciated the picture wrote, "I didn't think it was possible for me to love oreo's more than I already did!!"

Scandal tour a hit for D.C. company

WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- A Washington tour operator said the American Scandal tour has been his company's most successful service since it started early in the summer.

Sean Williams, founder of DC Walkabout, said the scandal tour became a quick crowd favorite after he began taking tourists to sites associated with some of the capital's most famous scandals and the involved parties, including Marion Barry, Richard Nixon, Monica Lewinsky and Eliot Spitzer, Politico reported Tuesday.

"We really want to kind of humanize some of the figures of the past and bring more awareness as it truly was as opposed to the way it is idealized in the present," Williams said.

"I think maybe it's human nature to get the more sensational aspects of people's lives. It's pretty apparent with the semi-tabloid culture that we have. I think people are just drawn to it because it's a little more exciting than the regular history overview that you normally get," he said.

The company's Web site says the tour is "recommended for adults" and "rated R (for ridiculous)."

Williams said he had so many scandals to choose from that it was difficult to pick the destinations for the tour.

"Easily 90 of the highlights of American history scandals didn't even make it to the tour," he said.

Russian party wants a month of no news

MOSCOW, June 27 (UPI) -- The leader of a Russian nationalist party has suggested all the country's journalists take a one-month vacation to relieve the "news pressure" on the public.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said his party wants the country to take a month off from the "news pressure" by ceasing all news media operations for a full month, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

"The LDPR party proposes that all Russian media bosses give their employees a one-month vacation, for example, from July 15 to Aug. 15. The incessant news machine should be stopped," Zhirinovsky said Tuesday while addressing the State Duma.

"There is a tremendous flow of filth coming from all the TV and radio channels that has a harmful effect on people's health. Look at any news report: murders, blasts, wars, violence, clashes, detentions are all around."

Zhirinovsky said the State Duma recently rejected an LDPR proposal to limit negative news to 20 percent of all televised news stories.

"Journalists ... don't your nerves need a rest?" he asked.

Chinese women protest Internet subway post

SHANGHAI, June 27 (UPI) -- Two women protested a Chinese subway operator's Internet post by carrying signs reading, "Just because I'm slutty doesn't mean you can be dirty."

The Wednesday post by Shanghai No.2 Metro Operation, which operates Lines 2, 11 and 13, angered many women and activists in the country by posting a picture of a woman in a transparent dress on the subway with a caption reading, "It's no wonder that some people get harassed if they dress like this," the Global Times reported Tuesday.

"There are plenty of gropers on the subway. Please pay attention to how you dress, ladies," the post read.

Two women responded to the post Sunday by riding the subway with signs reading, "Just because I'm slutty doesn't mean you can be dirty."

"We will stage the same protest on the subway every weekend until the subway operator apologizes for its inappropriate comment against women," said one of the protesters, who gave her surname as Fu.