Want a great free-range snack? Grab yourself a box of animal crackers. After more than a century behind bars, the tasty critters have been released into the wild.

The redesigned animal crackers box

Nabisco recently unveiled a redesign of its iconic Barnum’s Animals box, showing a zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe and gorilla roaming the savanna – a departure from the previous packaging, which had the circus animals in cages loaded onto boxcars.

The previous animal cracker packaging.

The rebranding came at the behest of animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which wrote a letter to Nabisco’s parent company Mondelez saying that circuses often mistreat animals. PETA included a mockup box design without bars in the letter.

“The new box for Barnum’s Animals crackers perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman told the Associated Press.

The crackers’ official name, Barnum’s Animals, is a reference to the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

It’s not the first time the animal cracker box has been refreshed in its 116-year history. “We’re always looking to see how to keep it modern, to keep it contemporary with customers,” a Mondelez spokesperson told USA Today.

Reaction to the new box design has been mixed, with many commenters criticizing what they see as a frivolous change and others turning the news into a punchline.

Personally, I am glad that @nabisco let the #AnimalCrackers out of their cages. I want to imagine those majestic beats roaming free before I bit their heads off.

— (((Dan))) (@CopyDan) August 22, 2018

Others praised the decision.

Some are saying @PETA wasted time, money, and effort pressuring Nabisco to free the animals from the circus on Animal Crackers. I disagree. Children will no longer think it's OK to put animals in cages. Well done PETA. Thank You Nabisco. It's never too late to change. pic.twitter.com/8KZts5YG7N

— Daniel Schneider (@BiologistDan) August 21, 2018

Regardless of your views on PETA – or animal crackers, for that matter – the wild-and-free box design is an object lesson in the importance of nimble branding. Even the most iconic product design can sometimes use a refresher, especially to reflect evolving public tastes.