Yahoo Entertainment Honey Boo Boo’s Mom Responds to Girl Scout Cookies Ban
The Girl Scouts of the USA better redneck-ognize!
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson has been shut down by the organization after she was hawking signed boxes of their infamous Girl Scout Cookies on her Facebook page in an effort to help her local troop. (Whatever happened to just standing outside a grocery store?)
Because the 7-year-old is not an actual scout, the GSUSA felt it wasn’t fair for Honey Boo Boo, who has 701,000 fans on the site, to give Georgia’s Troop No. 60373 a big sales boost … because not only does it violate the rule that cookies are not to be sold online, it also defeats the purpose of the scouts’ learning skills, like goal-setting and achievement.
“Through an online sales approach, a girl doesn’t have the personal experience of asking someone to purchase her product,” the Girls Scouts of the USA tells omg! in a statement. “She doesn’t have to learn the responsibility of handling the money and personally delivering the order. When you have canvassed your neighborhood and manned cookie booths for hours, you learn the value of a hard day’s work. There is also a strong feeling of accomplishment when you are personally engaged in the activity."
But Honey Boo Boo’s mother, Mama June Shannon, insists they meant no harm. “It has always been my family’s goal to give back and help others,” the TLC star tells omg! in a statement. “I have helped our family friend sell Girl Scout Cookies for the past three years. While Alana is not an official Girl Scout, we have followed all rules sent to us by the local council.”
Before the GSUSA pulled the plug on Thursday, Honey Boo Boo was selling so many cookies – at $3.50 a pop, plus shipping costs – she was well on her way to earning an honorary badge. On her Facebook page on Tuesday, she posted a photo of the backseat of the family’s car piled high with boxes bound for the post office. “All cookies that have been paid for have been shipped! Thanks everyone for supporting Girl Scouts!”
Honey Boo Boo’s Cookie-gate may have actually inspired GSUSA to make a change in their rulebook. “We will continue to explore online approaches to selling cookies,” the GSUSA also stated, “but they must be fair to all Girl Scouts and provide the same type of learning opportunities.”
Luckily for Troop No. 60373, they’ll be allowed to retain the money and credit from all the Honey Boo Boo sales prior to the ban, but we imagine next year they’ll be back to pounding the pavement old-school style with boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs.
Whose side are you on: Honey Boo Boo or the Girls Scouts?
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