[420 Girl]

Less than a month after Kellogg's made the decision not to renew Michael Phelps's endorsement deal, the century-old company has discovered that dropping the Olympic athlete was not the best PR move after all.

Initially reported by The Business Insider, the Kellogg reputation has severely diminished since the now infamous "bong debacle." After a picture of Phelps surfaced in which the swimmer was caught smoking marijuana from a bong, the cereal and breakfast food company promptly decided to end its relationship with the athlete, noting, "Michael's most recent behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg." Phelps had previously been featured on the cereal boxes of Kellogg's popular Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes.

In response to Kellogg's decision, an immediate backlash surfaced, with fans of the athlete and of the drug arguing for a boycott of the company. Apparently, the boycott worked.

Vanno, an organization that reports on company reputations and maintains an index charting the repute of over 5,000 businesses, has released data charting the fall of Kellogg's throughout the past month's events. Out of all the companies that Vanno monitors, Kellogg's was ranked ninth before it ever booked Phelps. Today the company can be found a little farther down the list, at a shabby 83.

It is undeniable that the situation Kellogg's found itself dealing with was a tough one. Not dropping the Olympic athlete could have resulted in a similar backlash by parents who refused to let their children eat from a box of the tainted cereal. Kellogg's will never know whether it made the right decision to free Phelps from the endorsement deal, but one thing is certain: never again will companies ignore the buying power of pot-heads when it comes to snack foods.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...ps-firing.html