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Honey Monster Creator Says 'Lazy' Parents Are Far Worse Than Cereal Mascots

Honey Monster Creator Says 'Lazy' Parents Are Far Worse Than Cereal Mascots

Peter Pullon brought the Sugar Puffs mascot to life in the seventies but doesn't think it's to blame for childhood obesity.

Paddy Maddison

Paddy Maddison

When he's not on Sainsbury's ads flogging cakes and pies at Christmas, Celeb chef Jamie Oliver can usually be found on the warpath against junk food for the remainder of the year.

School dinners, fizzy drinks and turkey twizzlers have all found themselves in his culinary crosshairs over the years, but more recently he's decided to cut unhealthy food off at the source. By waging war on sugar.

Jamie Oliver's Food Tube

And the soldiers of the opposing side? Well, the cereal box mascots of course. We're talking Tony the Tiger, Captain Rick and, of course, the biggest, yellowest and hairiest of them all, the Honey Monster.

Jamie wants 'em dead.

It's a battle we'd pay good money to see. But while things likely won't come to blows in a physical sense, the Sugar Puffs mascot's creator has taken to the soap box to level some criticism at the Oliver-led initiative.

Real life master of puppets Peter Pullon brought the Honey Monster to life in the 1970s, alongside other famous puppets including - but not limited to - Keith Harris' Orville.

SWNS

He's not a fan of childhood obesity either, but feels that going after the cereal mascots is not the way to solve the problem.

Speaking to MailOnline, Pullon said: "I think parents need to take some responsibility, not only for their children but for themselves as well.

I'm pretty old, I've got three children and I've never pushed sweets on my children. It is becoming a nanny state. I think the majority of people are sensible.

"We are by far better informed now than we have ever been, than when I was a child and when my children were children.

"If you are not sensible enough or responsible enough to make a decision about how to look after your child, in a healthy way, then the adverts are not the problem.

"I get cross because people won't make informed decisions. Why can't they make them themselves?"

Honey Monster Puffs

However, Pullon's stance on the matter doesn't mean that he agrees with advertising sugary products these days.

"I don't believe in pushing seriously bad products," he said.

"I don't think we should be advertising products with high sugar content.

"But at the same time I think there is a lot of laziness. I see children running amok in pubs and restaurants, and parents don't have any control.

"If they want something to eat or drink, parents just give it to them. I think it's the same with food and drink, people can't be arsed to make children behave themselves.

"So if they want food or drink, they just give it to them."

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