Current Events > Kellogg's CEO: Let them eat Corn Flakes for dinner

(+) Yeah! (+)

Dinner costing to much make processed grains in milk your meal.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/food/kellogg-ceo-cereal-dinner/index.html

Let them eat Corn Flakes appears to be Kelloggs CEO Gary Pilnicks advice to cash-strapped shoppers who are spending the highest portion of their income on food than at any point in the last 30 years. In an interview with CNBC last week, WK Kellogg CEO Pilnick said the company was advertising cereal for dinner to consumers looking for more affordable options. Give chicken the night off, the ads cheery tagline reads. WK Kellogg owns cereals such as Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran and others.

The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure, Pilnick said. If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, thats going to be much more affordable.
His advice hasnt landed well with people frustrated by spending 26% more on groceries since 2020; on social media the campaign is being seen as insensitive.
CNBC host Carl Quintanilla asked Pilnick if encouraging weary customers to eat cereal for dinner could land the wrong way.
Pilnick thought the opposite. In fact, its landing really well right now, Pilnick said. Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.

Prices for groceries and restaurants have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. In 2022, consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food, the highest level since 1991, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing data from the US Agriculture Department
Food companies have raised prices since the start of the pandemic to cover higher costs for labor, ingredients and transportation and because they could.
Cereal prices alone increased 28% since January of 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In its latest fiscal year, Kellogg raised prices by 12%.
Despite the CEOs assurances, Kelloggs advertisement and Pilnicks comments have led to a backlash on social media.
Some consumers have called the comments tone deaf from an executive who made more than $4 million last year. They note that boxes of popular cereals now cost more than $7 and cereal is not an adequate substitution for a full dinner.
The backlash highlights consumer anger at companies for raising prices on everyday foods and, in some cases, boasting about it.

How about YOU eat corn flakes for dinner every night, Gary?

That seems like a woefully out of touch and self serving. But thats CEOs in America these days.

I had a bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch with a sliced banana in it last night and it changed my life

The cereal category has always been quite affordable

Wasn't there just a topic about $10 dinky-ass boxes of that Magic Spoon shit?

I like cornflakes, but this man's message is so tone-deaf.

Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
Remember when I used to eat corn flakes for dinner

Why are the ultra rich so cartoonish? Are they that unaware?

C_Pain posted...

Why are the ultra rich so cartoonish? Are they that unaware?

They see themselves as unassailable.

I feel like this is coming to a head in the near future... these guys are openly so cartoonishly evil and they keep needling people who are struggling. I dunno.

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, bra
La-la, how the life goes on

C_Pain posted...

Why are the ultra rich so cartoonish? Are they that unaware?

what are you going to do, shoot us?

Or we could eat him and all his rich buddies. This sort of shit is exactly the same sentiment as "let them eat cake" and thus the same reason the guillotine got invented.

This comes as Albertsons and Kroger were trying to merge

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday sued to block the $25 billion deal between Kroger and Albertsons, alleging the largest supermarket merger in US history would lead to higher prices, store closures and job losses.

The merger, announced in 2022, sought to combine the fifth and tenth largest retailers in the country. The companies own dozens of chains, including Safeway, Vons, Harris Teeter and Fred Meyer.
But the proposed merger came as food prices have skyrocketed. Americans are spending 26% more on groceries since 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the highest portion of their income on food than any point over the past 30 years.
The FTC, in a statement, said the merger would eliminate competition in the grocery industry, which could drive costs even higher.
Kroger (KR) and Albertsons, which both employ mostly unionized workforces, said they wanted to merge to be more competitive against non-union giants such as Walmart, Amazon and Costco. The grocers are also facing increased pressure from Aldi, the fast-growing German discount supermarket chain.

The merger would accelerate our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said when the deal was announced.
The two companies have a combined 710,000 workers, nearly 5,000 stores and more than $200 billion in sales. The companies argued that they will be able to use $500 million in cost savings from the deal to reduce prices for shoppers and tailor promotions and savings.
But the FTC in its lawsuit was skeptical of the claim.

This supermarket mega merger comes as American consumers have seen the cost of groceries rise steadily over the past few years. Krogers acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods, said Henry Liu, director of the FTCs Bureau of Competition.
Unions, small grocers and a coalition of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Mike Lee of Utah, also strongly opposed the merger from the start.
Kroger and Albertsons criticized the FTCs decision.

Yeah whatever but will it keep me from whacking off

I like these comments.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/58230dca.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/15269ae6.jpg

Honestly, cereal for dinner kinda hits different occasionally but I don't wanna hear it from the fucking CEO of KELLOGG'S

How about we eat the rich?

name_unknown posted...

Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.

Jesus Christ

So this, in real time.

We are really doing great, aren't we?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

In a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, I imagine he would be a more satisfying meal to the zombies than his cereal.

Let's put this in proper perspective:

the CEO of Kellogg's would prefer if Americans ate breakfast cereal every meal of every day...

Corn flakes are fucking expensive, especially for what they are.

That's what the kid was doing in the Slipknot music video Left Behind, however it was definitely not an endorsement of the lifestyle.

Anyways, fuck this guy, probably also thinks you need an ID to buy groceries.

C_Pain posted...

Why are the ultra rich so cartoonish? Are they that unaware?

they are aware and don't care because no one calls them on it in a way that is meaningful and then he will get a raise in the next day anyways

When I was a kid, eating breakfast for dinner was something you did to change things up now and then,

it wasn't, "Haha, we're refusing to pay you a living wage so you're going to have to eat cereal for supper every night, bitch."

how'd it work out for that french lady who told ppl to eat cake? i dont remember.

You know, apparently Marie Antoinette didn't really say "let them eat cake" in regards to peasants being too poor to afford bread.

But this guy basically did. You know what they did in France?

https://www.britannica.com/story/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake

So they told us to skip breakfast, so we can eat it at dinner?

What if we instead get rid of corn subsidies and instead put that towards the types of food people actually need for dinner.

That would certainly fuck him over.

This story has really blown up since yesterday. Ive seen this multiple times now at a few different places. That guy cant read a room and this is as tone deaf as the historical let them eat cake. Yes Im aware thats basically been disproven but its still a well known tone deaf moment, even if false.

Ignoring all the controversy though I have to say one of my favorite late night snacks is a bowl of cereal. And for as plain as corn flakes are Ive always LOVED a bowl of corn flakes with a sliced banana in it. Top tier combo.

My girlfriend sometimes wants breakfast cereal for dinner.

cereal isn't even cheap anymore. the boxes are smaller too

The Rich so bold they keep proding us with sticks we really need to eat them

name_unknown posted...

Pilnick said. Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.

If this is how they view and talk about the population publicly, what the fuck do they say in private?

Humble_Novice posted...

I like cornflakes, but this man's message is so tone-deaf.

I'm curious, would it be tone deaf if Kellogs only made dry cereal?

Error1355 posted...

If this is how they view and talk about the population publicly, what the fuck do they say in private?

Probably lots of hard R's on either side.

Still more in touch than the original Kelloggs message about corn flakes

CADE_FOSTER posted...

The Rich so bold they keep proding us with sticks we really need to eat them

Kellogg's for dinner? Nah, son. We're having the CEO of Kellogg's for dinner.

C_Pain posted...

Why are the ultra rich so cartoonish? Are they that unaware?

Yes.

They don't live the same kind of lives we live. Anything and everything they want is at their fingertips with the absolute minimum of strife or difficulty.

Abed has Lucky Charms for dinner and seems better off for it.

His advice hasnt landed well with people frustrated by spending 26% more on groceries since 2020; on social media the campaign is being seen as insensitive.

Only 26%? Seems more like 50-100% to me.

Antiyonder posted...

Abed has Lucky Charms for dinner and seems better off for it.

..other than all his obvious issues.

I used to eat cereal for dinner when I was a kid and young adult. We didn't have corn flakes though, we had Weet-Bix.

008Zulu posted...

I used to eat cereal for dinner when I was a kid and young adult. We didn't have corn flakes though, we had Weet-Bix.

I used to eat half a box of cinnamon toast crunch in one sitting just so I could get to the piles of sugar at the bottom. times are changing

also I probably have diabetes now

I think everyone is missing the point.

Kellogg's cereal is too expensive to be eating for dinner.

Dakimakura posted...

I think everyone is missing the point.

Kellogg's cereal is too expensive to be eating for dinner.

if you're just required to feed your children enough that they're strong enough to work the mines then kellog's cereal makes a fine dinner.