Yeah it wasn't until Gen-X kids started giggling about "uh huhuh, he said gay" that it started really falling out of favor. Just like the rainbow, it's just another innocent thing that was corrupted and made to be something gross and nasty.
The original kid was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by white hats and then replaced with the clone you see now. The choice to know is yours.
Aside from inventing advertising Eddy was about getting women to smoke. The breakfast grift was mostly a lobby of mostly egg farmers and Kellog.