Saturday, February 14, 2009

Kelloggs Suffers Pro-Phelps Backlash!

Sometimes the idea of a God running the whole show towards some rational purpose has a bit of plausibility to it, especially when it involves some viscious justice like this:

Kellogg's is experiencing backlash for dumping Phelps over his bong smoking photo that appeared in last Sunday's British tabloid, News of the World...

As CNBC's Sports Biz columnist Darren Rovell points out, an organization called Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, DC-based lobbying group with 26,000 members, is leading a boycott against Kellogg's, calling their treatment of Phelps "hypocritical and disgusting."

Rob Kampia, the executive director of MPP, told CNBC, "Kellogg's had no problem signing Phelps when he had a conviction for drunk driving (DUI in 2004), an illegal act that could actually have killed someone. To drop him for choosing to relax with a substance that's safer than beer is an outrage, and it sends a dangerous message to young people."

A Facebook page has already sprung up with over 6,000 members lashing out at Kellogg's for "criminalizing" Phelps. Seth Meyers on SNL also gave the brand, popular among kids, a good ribbing and offered some advice to moms and dads, "Parents, if your kid says 'Michael Phelps smokes pot why can't I?' Just say, 'You can, right after you win twelve gold medals for your country.''"


Here's the problem in a nutshell: the executives at Kellogg live in a world where most people didn't smoke marijuana. The bulk of the populace under 45 live in a world where most do, or have, and that trend will continue. Seth Myers' last joke spelled this out most clearly:

"If you're at a party, and you see Michael Phelps smoking a bong, and your first thought isn't 'Wow, I get to party with Michael Phelps', and instead you take a picture and sell it to the tabloids you should take a long look in the mirror because you're a dick"

To the 60+ executives at Kellogg, the picture-taker was a good responsible citizen. That's becoming more and more a minority view, and now that we can gather on the net and boycott people like Kellogg's, we can demonstrate that.

The article also goes into our favorite dream scenario, legalized marijuana getting us out of the financial crisis.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. A very foolish move by Kellogg, especially given these rough economic times.

NS
http://sciencedefeated.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Munchies buyers of the world, unite!

ScienceAvenger said...

No kidding. We can be a surly bunch when we haven't had out frosted flakes.