Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick, had a Marie Antoinette moment with his call to action that sounded suspiciously like, “Let them eat cereal!”
As if the brand’s campaign to “give chicken the night off,” and have cereal for dinner back in 2022 wasn’t enough of a joke. Now, it seems, Kellogg’s CEO is actually glad the “cereal for dinner trend” is on the rise as Americans face more financial pressure. The tone deaf CEO spoke on the nation’s economic hardship and what Kellogg’s is doing to “reach the consumer where they are.” He then proceeded to tell us where we are, which apparently, is at cereal for dinner status.
Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick – Let them eat cereal! Kellogg’s brand cereal.
Despise Kellogg’s 2022 price increase, Pilnick rambled about cereals’s affordability during a CNBC interview:
“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, that’s going to be much more affordable.”
Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick
With a $1 million base salary and over $4 million in incentive compensation last year, Pilnick just went on television to tell the peasants to eat cereal for dinner. Not just any cereal, his company’s cereal. So he can profit off those too broke to afford better.
Even CNBC host Carl Quintanilla, was taken aback enough to ask Pilnick if maybe his encouraging people to eat cereal for dinner could “land the wrong way.”
Oh no. Not a chance. Pilnick thinks it’s all hunky-dory.
“It’s landing really well right now,” Pilnick said with a big dopey smile on his face. “Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.”
Gary Pilnick
Pilnick noted a bowl of cereal with milk & fresh fruit is under $1.
When was the last time this guy did his own grocery shopping – the 1980’s? A piece of fruit alone is $1. A single serving of his cereal is also over $1. A large box of cereal is over $6 (and mostly air inside). Milk is over $5 a gallon. The math is not mathing Gary…
Do you know what actually will cost $1 (or $1.25) per serving?
Those individual frozen beef or chicken pot pies from Walmart. You get warm meat, veggies, and gravy inside a flaky pie crust… That’s a hell of a lot better for you than a cold bowl of sugar and red dye 40 for dinner.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), food prices increased by 5.8% in 2023. Prices in the cereal and baked goods category rose 8.4% in 2023 — putting it behind only fats and oils at 9%, and sugar and sweets, another key ingredient in Kellogg’s cereals, which rose 8.7%.
So, not only did he pull the equivalent of Marie Antonette’s ‘let them eat cake’ blunder – he lied.
