In the grand scheme of things, the PETA-lobbied redesign of the Nabisco Barnum’s Animals Crackers box is purely symbolic. The now-discontinued cracker box design, largely unchanged since the ‘20s, featured circus animals — like lions, gorillas, and elephants — in adult-baby pairs behind bars on a circus train car. The new one shows a zebra, an elephant, a lion, and a giraffe walking together, free, on a savannah.

Animal rights activists have had great successes in recent years in getting cruel animal treatment banned from circuses, zoos, and elsewhere, and their work continues whether or no matter what the packaging of this children’s snack looks like. Nevertheless, animal crackers have to keep up with the times, and people in these times are still queasy from watching Blackfish and The Cove. As a spokesperson from Nabisco’s parent company Mondelez International told The New York Times, “To continue to make the brand relevant for years to come, we felt this was the right time for the next evolution in our design, now showing the animals in a natural habitat.”

Personally, I’ve never been partial to the taste of animal crackers, but what I do find nicely sweet is the unreasoned freakouts from random anti-new box, lib-owning conservatives online. As usual, Twitter is aflutter with angry denouncements of the new packaging, which, let’s face it, is several degrees less depressing than the old box and features, as some have pointed out, a very chill giraffe.

Now it looks like the animals are in a comically diverse gang. https://t.co/hSS7agSyWC

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) August 27, 2018

If you’re looking at animal crackers to affirm your worldview, congrats. You’re insane.

— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) August 29, 2018

We live in One Crazy Mixed Up America ! I bought a Box of Animal crackers recently and Ate them EXACTLY like I did 60 years ago...I bit their Heads off and Enjoyed my Animal Crackers...I knew they were NOT REAL ANIMALS, JUST COOKIES pic.twitter.com/Kp81d6aPWL

— ❌ Conservative gene ❌ (@mgblover1974) August 23, 2018

This might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of. https://t.co/nTVA7AqMCd

— Conservative Tribune (@conserv_tribune) August 21, 2018

Nabisco’s Facebook page has been hit particularly hard by supposed former fans who are angrily disappointed that the company has succumbed to PETA’s tyrannical demands.

The ire has moved beyond social media, however, even trickling onto commerce sites where people who ordered crackers expecting boxes with caged animals on them were instead greeted with free, happy animals.

Nonsensical politics aside, many complainers explain that their anger is rooted in childhood nostalgia. It isn’t just about the liberals: An iconic part of their and their children's’ upbringing is changing, and that’s upsetting. I get it. On the other hand, everything, even corporate branding, changes. It’s no use being irate; just sit back and have an animal-shaped cookie.