People angry about rising food prices have found another villain in the ongoing inflation saga: the CEO of WK Kellogg, who suggested in a recent television interview that cash-strapped consumers should eat cereal for dinner to save money.
The comments, made by CEO Gary Pilnick during an appearance on CNBC last week, soon spread across social media, where they struck a chord with people, many of whom responded with Marie Antoinette's famously heartless – and possibly misquoted – “Let they eat “compared cake” line.
Pilnick announced a marketing campaign launched by his company that urged people to give “chicken the night off” and consume bowls of Frosted Flakes and Frosted Mini-Wheats instead. These ads don't specifically highlight cereal as a cost-saving measure, but rather as a fun way to shake up a family's dinner table routine. But Pilnick brought it up when CNBC host Carl Quintanilla asked him about rising grocery prices.
“The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great target when consumers are under pressure,” Pilnick said. “When you consider the cost of cereal for a family compared to what it would otherwise cost, this will be much more affordable.”
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When Quintanilla pressed him and asked if such a throw could “land wrong,” Pilnick redoubled his attack. “We don’t think so,” he replied. “In fact, it’s going down really well at the moment, Carl.”
Snippets of the interview surfaced on social media, including on a subreddit called /NotTheOnion, where people share real news that sounds like it could have come from the satirical website The Onion. On Reddit, some people complained about the cost of cereal, corporate profits, and “shrinkflation” — where the amount of food in a package is reduced but the price stays the same — while others noted that the sugary breakfast food isn't actually a good substitute for sugar for a nutritious meal.
One user summed up the sentiment with an age-old slogan: “Eat the rich.”
“Hey, um, what stage of capitalism is this?” TikToker Julie (@hoolie_r) asked in a video that has been viewed more than 2.4 million times.
Some critics questioned whether the CEO, whose total compensation was $4.9 million last year – and that was before his promotion to the top job – was following his own company's suggestion. “I wonder what cereal he and his family eat for dinner?” a user Posted on X
The anger was similar to the outrage that followed viral reports of eye-watering prices on Big Macs, with combination meals costing up to $18. People have also been posting pictures of their grocery shopping to show rising prices – and one TikToker illustrated the inflation trends by posting a video showing the $20 depicted in the 1990 film Home Alone. A shopping trip would now cost almost three times as much. Even rapper Cardi B has complained about how much more she pays for salad these days.
The shock people feel from supermarket stickers is real. Prices in this category outpaced inflation, rising 26 percent over the past four years. And they are likely to remain elevated – food prices, once raised, rarely go down. Government data shows the cost of cereals and baked goods has risen more than 27 percent since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
While some of the increase is related to ingredient costs, industry experts say fuel, labor and packaging are the biggest drivers of rising prices on snack and cereal aisles. But Americans are still buying, giving snack companies little incentive to lower prices.
Companies like Kellogg, which spun off from its parent company last year and now operates under the Kellanova name, have an easier time getting away with it because consumers are “pretty category loyal,” said Neil Saunders, chief executive of analytics firm GlobalData. “It’s like a treat and a treat,” he added. “If prices go up a little, the consumer doesn't really change their habits. So it is, so to speak, permission for the manufacturers to pass on part of this increase a little more.”