Fact Check: No, Harris Wasn't Issued a Cease-and-Desist Order from Nabisco

Claim:

Snack food manufacturer Nabisco issued a cease-and-desist against Vice President Kamala Harris telling her to "Stop using our brand in your ads—we don't support you."

Rating:

Labeled Satire ( About this rating? )

A rumor that snack food manufacturer Nabisco, sent U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris a "cease-and-desist" notice circulated online in August 2024. For example, Facebook page America's Last Line of Defense posted a picture with the caption "Nabisco issues cease and desist against Kamala Harris: 'Stop using our brand in your ads—we don't support you'" on Aug. 21, 2024:

The Facebook post also stated:

She keeps tossing those Doritos around like the company has endorsed her. It hasn't.
"She's using our brand without permission."
Shame on you, Kamala.

(Facebook user "America's Last Line Of Defense")

The post was shared over a hundred times. Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. One comment stated , "She don't care, she's above the Law." However, there was no evidence that the snacks and cookies manufacturer had asked Harris to stop displaying their products during her campaign.

Rather, the rumor about Harris getting a cease-and-desist notice from Nabisco originated with America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) — a network of websties and social media accounts that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. Its " Intro " states: "The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real." The image of Harris with the caption on the ALLOD Facebook page also carries a "Satire" label.

The fictional story spread as Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, campaigned and kicked off the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August 2024. Viral campaign videos from earlier in the month also showed the running mates in a grocery store buying Doritos, among other items (though Doritos are owned by PepsiCo and not Nabisco).

America's Last Line of Defense has a history of making up stories for shares and comments in an effort to "troll" conservative readers, who it refers to as "taters."

The Dunning-Kruger Times – a website associated with the satire and parody network — describes "taters" as follows:

"Taters" are the conservative fans of America's Last Line of Defense. They are fragile, frightened, mostly older caucasian Americans. They believe nearly anything. While we go out of our way to educate them that not everything they agree with is true, they are still old, typically ignorant, and again — very afraid of everything.

Our mission is to do our best to show them the light, through shame if necessary, and to have a good time doing it, because…old and afraid or not, these people are responsible for the patriarchy we're railing so hard against. They don't understand logic and they couldn't care less about reason. Facts are irrelevant. BUT…they do understand shame.

Snopes has addressed other satirical claims about the candidates receiving "cease-and-desist" letters in the past, including the rumor that singer Oliver Anthony sent a cease-and-desist letter to Walz for supposedly playing his hit song, "Rich Men North of Richmond," at campaign rallies.

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.

Sources:

"About Us." Dunning-Kruger-Times.Com, 1 Aug. 2022, https://dunning-kruger-times.com/about-us/. " target="blank">https://dunning-kruger-times.com/about-us/.">https://dunning-kruger-times.com/about-us/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.

Liles, Jordan. "Singer Oliver Anthony Sent Cease-and-Desist Letter to Tim Walz?" Snopes, 20 Aug. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/oliver-anthony-tim-walz/. " target="blank">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/oliver-anthony-tim-walz/.">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/oliver-anthony-tim-walz/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.

"Our Products." PepsiCo, https://www.pepsico.com/our-brands/creating-smiles/our-products. " target="blank">https://www.pepsico.com/our-brands/creating-smiles/our-products.">https://www.pepsico.com/our-brands/creating-smiles/our-products. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.