(NewsWorthy.news) – Kellogg’s is facing a boycott after the company’s CEO commented that families should eat cereal for dinner to cope with inflation and rising food costs. Gary Pilnick, whose estimated net worth is $15.7 million, argued that cereal is an “affordable” choice for worried families and suggested that inflation presented Kellogg’s with a good marketing opportunity.
The CEO dismissed suggestions that his views could be taken the wrong way. Pilnick claimed that a quarter of consumption of the company’s cereals occurred outside of breakfast time and that a growing number of people consume Kellogg’s at dinnertime.
Kellogg’s already faced boycotts in 2023 along with companies such as Bud Light and Nike after they were linked to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The TikTok influencer posed with Tony the Tiger, which prompted America First Legal, founded by former Trump advisers Gene Hamilton and Stephen Miller, to file a civil rights complaint accusing the company of hiring based on workplace bias. Kellogg’s claimed, however, that it had no partnership with the influencer. The AFL also attacked the company for featuring the drag queen RuPaul on cereal boxes in 2022 and for celebrating Pride Month on its cereal box designs.
Kellogg’s has been pushing the concept of cereal for dinner since 2022 when inflation was the highest it had been in 40 years. The boycott is set to last from April 1 until June 30 and the protest will pressure the company to reduce its prices. Liz Zelnick, director of the left-leaning advocacy group Accountable.US’ economic security and corporate power program, accused the company of exploiting and profiting from an industry-driven food crisis. Zelnik stressed that families should not have to make such sacrifices with their diet in the first place.
Pilnick suggested that as the price of cereal with milk is less than a dollar, the trend of having cereal for dinner will continue. A TikTok user suggested that there was no valid reason for the company to increase its prices and threatened to shop elsewhere for cereals. Another called the prospect of “peasants” being forced to eat nothing but cereals a “dystopian hellscape.”
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