Clarity Rating Scale: Kellogg’s and a Looming Customer Boycott: What Happened and Why so Quiet?

Crisis Communications
Written By Erin Owen

On the Hot Seat: Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick

From The Guardian: “The … chief executive officer of the US food processing giant Kellogg’s has drawn scorn from some quarters after recently suggesting that families with strained finances could cope by eating ‘cereal for dinner’. Gary Pilnick was speaking live on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on February 21 when he delivered the remarks in question, which some have compared to the ‘let them eat cake’ phrase frequently attributed…to Marie Antoinette.”


The Epicenter: CNBC Interview Key Quotes (Feb. 21):

  • Pilnick: “The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” Pilnick said amid a discussion about high grocery prices. “If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.”

  • The CNBC host Carl Quintanilla asked Pilnick – whose company’s brands include Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Corn Pops and Rice Krispies – whether his remarks could “land the wrong way” with consumers who have been forced to spend about 26% more on groceries in general since 2020.

  • Pilnick doubled down, saying: “In fact, it’s landing really well right now. Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect [it] to continue as that consumer is under pressure.”

How It’s Really Landing with the People: It’s not landing

There continues to be an out cry from consumers that is receiving international coverage with a movement to boycott Kellogg’s products gaining momentum. Why are people so mad? Let me count the ways:

  • Perceived Insensitivity: The remarks might seem insensitive to those struggling financially, suggesting a lack of understanding or empathy for people's hardships.

  • Nutritional Concerns: Proposing cereal as a dinner alternative could be seen as promoting poor nutritional choices, especially for children.

  • Corporate Opportunism: Some might view the comments as an attempt to capitalize on financial hardship for corporate gain, rather than offering genuine assistance.

  • Company Contradictions: Kellogg’s just unveiled “Feeding Happiness,” a sustainable business strategy rooted in W.K. Kellogg's vision for “wellbeing.”

  • Out of Touch: The comments could be interpreted as out of touch with the reality of rising living costs and the struggle to afford balanced meals.

  • Undermining Seriousness: Suggesting cereal for dinner in light of economic pressure might trivialize the severity of food insecurity faced by many.


A Few Examples of Customer Outrage:

The Company Response: No response!

  • Kellogg’s appears to be deploying a "no comment" or silent strategy. This can sometimes be strategic, but it risks appearing indifferent or unprepared to the public. Evidence of the “no response” response:

    • As of this writing, Kellogg’s has yet to publicly engage through media interviews or statements to clarify the company’s position or initiate a dialogue to address stakeholders' concerns and potentially guide the incident towards resolution.

    • No statements have been released on the company’s News & Events Page to address Pilnick’s comments.

    • No comment or statement on Pilnick’s LinkedIn page.

    • The company’s largest channel, LinkedIn (16k) has no company comment. (A few scattered angry customers comments go unanswered.)

    • Last Facebook Post was Feb. 19 and has nothing to do with the incident. But all 41 comments on that post are angry customers, looking for a direct outlet with the company about Pilnick’s comments, with no response from Kellogg’s.

    • FYI: On Kellogg’s company website the Our Culture page “no longer exists.” EEEK.

Overall Clarity Rating Score for Kellogg’s response:   1

The Clarity Rating Scale measures effective communications on a scale of 1 to 5 using this criteria:

1: Blurry, Indistinct

2: Slightly Focused, Needs Adjustment

3: Moderately Focused, Fair Clarity

4: Well-Focused, High Clarity

5: Razor-Sharp Focus, Crystal Clear (Are we clear?)

The EO Report will keep an eye on this developing crisis and report back. If you see any response from Kellogg’s, please email me at erin@claritychannels.com.

Todd Murphy, any media monitoring or crisis management insights from Truescope to share?

Next Week: The EO Report is tracking the AI incident at Google regarding historically inaccurate images generated on its Gemini AI image service.

Erin Owen
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