Dumping Michael Phelps over the now notorious photo of him taking a bong rip is not looking like the best move for Kellogg. Pot activists, who insist they make up a large share of consumers of Kellogg products, organized a boycott of the company. The boycott resonated with Kellogg customers to such a degree that when you called Kellogg, the first audio recording you heard was not about the nation-wide salmonella outbreak that had sickened dozens of people, but was a message for callers who were concerned about the company's relationship with Phelps.
Now comes a report that severing the relationship has actually damaged Kellogg's brand. Silicon Alley Insider reports:
Out of the 5,600 company reputations Vanno monitors, Kellogg ranked ninth before it booted Phelps. Now it's ranked 83. Not even an industry-wide peanut scare inflicted as much damage on the food company's reputation.
They have a fascinating graph illustrating all this which I urge you to check out.
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