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Should Proposing Cereal for Dinner Have Caused an Uproar?
WK Kellogg Co. CEO Gary Pilnick was widely ridiculed across social media recently amid boycott calls after suggesting families should eat cereal for dinner to combat inflation-spiked food prices.
“The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” Pilnick said during an interview on CNBC. “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.”
He estimated that a bowl of cereal with milk and fruit costs less than a dollar.
Kellogg’s cereal brands include Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes, and Raisin Bran. Kellogg’s also sells Pop-Tarts, Pringles, Eggo, and Kellogg’s Oats.
His comments referenced Kellogg’s “Cereal for Dinner” campaign, which ends with the slogan: “Give chicken the night off.” The campaign launched in August 2022 when the rate of inflation reached a 40-year high. Kellogg promoted cereal for dinner as a “low-prep, low-mess and low-price meal option.”
Some of the social media critics of Pilnick’s comments questioned the health benefits of eating cereal for two meals a day, as many cereal brands are filled with sugar and lack other nutrients. However, the primary complaint was that cereal is no longer cheap. Many social media responses likened Pilnick’s remarks to the historic “let them eat cake” phrase linked to Marie Antoinette.
“Give the peasants cereal for dinner!” one user commented on a TikTok video.
The interview came as a Wall Street Journal report showed Americans spending 10% or more of their income on food, the highest share in 30 years. The average price of breakfast cereal in the U.S. grew 6% in 2021 and 13% in 2022 before inching up 0.3% in 2023 as inflation cooled.
“There’s no reason for you to jack up your prices the way you did, except to screw us,” one TikTok user said in a video with over 3 million views. “And you know what? Now we’re going to screw you — while eating some other brand’s cereal.”
“Advertising to hungry people that cereal might be good for dinner is not ‘meeting people where they are,’” self-help author Marianne Williamson wrote on X. “It’s exploiting the hungry for financial gain.”
When asked in the CNBC interview whether his suggestion could “land the wrong way,” Pilnick said the “cereal for dinner” idea was actually “landing really well right now.” About 25% of Kellogg’s cereal consumption happens outside of breakfast, he noted.
Some comments under CNBC’s interview posted online supported the idea. One read, “That is what we did during difficult times in my childhood. There is no need to feel offended.”
“Well actually he is right and having some Special K for dinner is healthier than McDonald’s for dinner,” another wrote, “and classic oatmeal without added sugar and some real fruits are even better.”
Discussion Questions
Does the strong reaction to Kellogg CEO Gary Pilnick’s comments say more about consumer sensitivity to inflationary pressures, brazen marketing pitches, or the “wild west” of social media?
Is the “Cereal for Dinner” proposition sensible?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
Mark Ryski
Founder, CEO & Author, HeadCount Corporation
I am sure this was said with good intentions. However, coming from a very highly paid CEO of a cereal company it comes across as completely out of touch. Many families in America are really struggling thanks to a couple of years of very high inflation, especially in food. They need practical advice and assistance in feeding their families, not some glib marketing campaign design to push Kellogg’s products. There’s nothing wrong with cereal, and some people may even like it for dinner, but it’s hardly a substitute for a proper balanced evening meal. Overall, this was misguided and ill-judged.
Neil, exactly. “Let them eat cake”.
How tone deaf
Personally, I’ve found cereal to be somewhat expensive; oatmeal, OTOH, is rather inexpensive, so if that’s what he meant, and one wants to adopt Hetty Green’s menu…somehow, tho, I doubt either of these is true. And while there are are ways to feed a family inexpensively, and perhaps that’s a discussion worth having, this comment isn’t a part of that If’s a blatantantly self-promoting statement of doubtful accuracy. Let’s move on.
In the past, I have actually HAD Cereal as dinner! These days however, Cereal has become somewhat expensive, especially compared to the “old days”. If you have a family and are up against it right now, there are unfortunately a LOT of other choices to stretch a dollar and have a cheap dinner, much less expensive that cereal.
This appears to be nothing more than a social media over-reaction. Social media influencers need fodder for content, and picking on anything CEO’s say is an easy target. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the suggestion of eating cereal for dinner — they are in the cereal business after all. As noted in the article, eating one of Kellogg’s healthier choice cereals is a lot better than eating fast food.
It wasn’t all that long ago that I had breakfast cereal for dinner…well, it was late. I wasn’t very hungry, and I just wanted some filler.
I think Kellogg’s needs some PR training. The category was highly inflationary in the last three years—over 20%—and Kellogg’s has more than quadrupled its bottom line. As I often write, companies love inflation. It gives them an excuse to raise prices (and increase absolute margins) while shoppers blame it on the government.
He would have been better off suggesting rice and beans for dinner. Cheaper and healthier. But his bonus isn’t predicated on that.
Much ado about nothing. I’m so tired of the “outrage” culture that gets clicks. If you don’t want cereal for dinner, don’t do it. And while many complain about the high cost of food, you don’t hear complaints about how jobs that were $7.50 an hour now routinely go for 2-3x as much.
I like the occasional bowl of cereal for lunch or dinner, but to propose it as a way to feed your family in inflationary times feels both clueless and self-serving. And speaking of inflation — Kellogg’s is just as guilty of “shrinkflation” as many other food companies these days. (Have you looked at the size of a Rice Krispies Treat recently?) There are plenty of price-conscious food options out there to feed your family with better nutritional value than a bowl of Froot Loops.
As a cereal for dinner on occasion eater, I can resonate with the concept. However, perception is reality & I can understand some of the legitimate concerns of message intent & sender (CEO). Kellogg can address the nutritional issues of cereal for dinner by offering up cereals that have less sugar & more nutrition in them. In that case, everyone wins – “having their cereal & eating it too.”
Not much more to say. Pilnick;s comments totally tone deaf and ignore the fact that cereal is expensive. In less inflationary times this might have been a cute campaign. Today it’s an insult.
Let’s see. The suggestion that cash-strapped consumers eat cereal for dinner is made by the CEO of a company that makes cereal. Nothing wrong with that, right?
When CEOs speak at investor conferences or to a financial media network, they focus on differentiating their offering and promoting the company’s value proposition. Some, like W. K. Kellogg’s CEO Pilnick, even elicit the consumer as their north star in guiding their programs. Mr. Pilnick used all the right buzzwords for affordability and the breakfast category as a “great destination when consumers are under pressure.” He added that their messaging is about “reaching the consumer where they are,” which he explains as the eating occasion with the “cereal for dinner” campaign. He immediately pivoted to the company’s focus on ensuring the right pack at the right price is in the right place, given the constant pressure by retailers to keep shelf prices down for their customers.
It all sounds very typical in the context of an investor conversation. Mr. Pilnick wants to expand the cereal occasion beyond breakfast and sees an opportunity due to rising grocery prices (especially the protein portion of the daily diet). CEOs and marketing departments with their PR agencies and teams behave as if they’re unaware of the spillover audiences and social media megaphones that take any conversation out of context. But, hold on, the company actually believes the cereal for dinner campaign is fine, which Mr. Pilnick emphasized was “landing well” in expanding use occasion beyond breakfast. He had no apparent concern or awareness about the optics of such a message or campaign and its association with the famous last words by Marie-Antoinette, “Let them eat cake.”
Somewhere in the C-suite and boardrooms, one or more voices must take the discussion beyond the essential economic realm and ensure they connect to their customers and their conditions. Decision-making, seen through a financial prism devoid of the social dimension, robs a company of its soul and genuine connection with its customers.
What’s wrong with breakfast for dinner? It’s a treat – and sometimes fun – especially if it includes Frosted Flakes! Seriously, I get the “fuss” over the healthy aspect, but not all cereal is overly loaded with sugar. Nobody got upset when McDonalds started serving breakfast all day.