Kellogg’s ‘cereal for dinner’ advertisement prepares absurdity for your evening meal
Breakfast in the morning is the only time of day cereal should ever be a food option
A variety of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal, which the company thinks we should start eating for dinner. (Austin Kelly)
Kellogg’s ad caused public criticism from nutritionists to social media users for its unhealthy suggestion to eat cereal for dinner. The commercial is a weird marketing tactic for more than its health concerns. Cereal should be enjoyed as breakfast in the morning, plain and simple.
In an interview with CNBC, Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick said promoting cereal for dinner was the company’s attempt to address the price hikes in food faced by their consumers. As a result of this strange move, there have been outright concerns that the commercial blatantly overlooks people’s current economic struggles. Critics are also worried the ad will mislead families and kids into thinking cereal is good for supper when, in fact, it’s not.
The ad also promotes unhealthy eating habits for kids, said Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation registered dietician and nutrition consultant Carol Dombrow, in an interview with Global News. She emphasized that cereal contains lots of sugar, fat, and sodium that won’t provide the nutrients children need. Eating too much of this food may lead to detrimental illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and more.
Beyond health concerns, it’s always been the niche of cereal to be a popular breakfast tradition in the morning. To turn cereal into your supper, is not just a nutritional issue, but also a cultural food issue. Eating what’s intended to start your day just feels and looks wrong for the end of your day.
Think about it this way — one of my favourite sitcoms in the world is “Parks and Recreation.” A popular mainstay in the show is Ron Swanson, played with deadpan abandon by Nick Offerman. A running gag of this character is that he loves eating food, especially breakfast items. Swanson is shown in one scene ordering all the eggs and bacon a diner has in classic comedy fashion. While he’s not demanding cereal for dinner, it doesn’t make the image of eating breakfast food for an evening meal any less absurd, even for comic effect.
The broader theme revealed by Kellogg’s commercial is the trend regarding the bizarre and extreme lengths corporations will go to just to promote their products or stay competitive with rival brands.
It’s understandable in a strange way why the cereal giant would resort to such a weird advertisement. Odd and desperate business initiatives have had an evident history of success.
McDonald’s and A&W, for instance, competed by using their now famous all-day breakfast system since February 2017, after successful pilot projects. At the time, these restaurants applied this practice due to high consumer demand that continues today. In other words, people wanted breakfast sandwiches from their favourite food chain available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
However, I’m still mixed about this all-day breakfast system on account of being a strong proponent of only having breakfast in the mornings. As for the ad, nobody, as far as I’m concerned, asked for cereal to be promoted similarly to fast food chains.
I don’t know what the company’s original founder W.K. Kellogg would have thought about this commercial, but I can only guess he never expected his breakfast cereals to become a supper option.
