by Gary Allen
An outraged group of public safety dispatchers deluged Kellogg Corp. with telephone calls and Internet electronic mail to protest a television commercial they felt degraded dispatchers, and within four days the company withdrew the ad.
Kellogg ordered the commercial "Firemen" off the air and apologized to dispatchers, who fumed that they had been portrayed as overweight, poorly eating and malnourished workers.
Traveling at the speed of light, the e-mail brought about one of the fastest commercial withdrawals in the industry's history, which has a process of rigorously reviewing every aspect of commercials. It gave dispatchers on the Internet tangible proof of the effectiveness of a group effort and the Internet's wide reach.
The messages primarily appeared on the dispatch@tcomeng.com mailing list, an Internet-based server that receives messages it and then rebroadcasts them to a list of subscribers. There are literally thousands of mailing lists that offer free distribution of messages on almost any topic.
The Commercial
In the 15-second version of the commercial, two firefighters--apparently fitting the cereal's demographic target of 45 year-olds--are wearing dark blue sweatshirts with a Maltese Cross on the front. They are discussing the state of their health.
One firefighter is about to eat a large Danish, and admits to his co-worker that he's getting a little paunchy. He says that he's starting to look "like a dispatcher," and pats his stomach to corroborate his view.
In response, the other firefighter/actor tells him about Kellogg's Complete Bran Flakes, and how the cereal can help him eat healthier. The commercial concludes with the camera focusing on the half-eaten Danish on the table between the two firefighters.
"What are you going to do with that?" the firefighter says, referring to the pastry. "I'll give it to the dispatcher," the other firefighter says, with just a hint of sarcasm.
Previous Pulls
Pulling commercials is not routine, said Advertising Age reporter Pat Pollack, but it does occur. She recalled several commercials in recent times that touched a nerve and were withdrawn by their sponsors.
Dennis Rodman's January basketball league suspension got his Carl's Jr. fast-food commercials pulled from the electronic screen. A commercial featuring two school cafeteria cooks met some immediate resistance from food service workers and was yanked. Even a seemingly-simple IBM commercial featuring an owl brought protests from environmentalists and was withdrawn.
The breakfast market is active and cut-throat. Sales of ready-to-eat cereals totaled about $8 billion last year. The Big Three--Kellogg, Post and General Mills--battle for market share as small as one-tenth of a percentage point.
Topping the cereal Top 10 is Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, with 4.2% of the market. General Mills' Cheerios (3.3% share, $23 million advertising) and Kellogg's Corn Flakes (3.0%, $23.1 million advertising) are ranked #2 and #3.
And Kellogg's strategy is successful. According to Advertising Age, Kellogg cereals took seven of the top 10 spots for ready-to-eat cereals by market share in 1995, including the top spot--Frosted Flakes.
Supermarkets are heavily dependent on breakfast cereals for revenue, too--cereals generate the third-largest dollar sales of any product, behind carbonated beverages and milk.
Advertising these brands is expensive. Cereal companies spend about $700 million annually on all types of media, creating a blizzard of ads, commercials and other promotions. In 1993, more than 1.3 million cereal commercials aired on American television, or 25 hours per day.
Pollack said television advertising is not trivial for Kellogg--they spent $331 million on in the first nine months of 1996. The TV ad campaign for Special Bran Flakes alone totaled $8.9 million during the same period. Frosted Flakes, Kellogg's biggest seller, Frosted Flakes, has a $50 million advertising budget. Kellogg is consistently among the Top 10 biggest network television advertisers, in the league of McDonalds and Proctor & Gamble Co..
And that money is just for placing the commercials. Production costs for each commercial range from $100,000 to $500,000 for a 30-second spot, and each cereal could have several spots filmed for different markets.
Internet Blitz
The first e-mail message about the Kellogg commercial appeared on the Internet at 1:55 a.m. on April 29. "Has anyone seen the `Kellogg's Complete' cereal TV ad with the 2 firefighters talking about how the first one is starting to look like the dispatcher because he hasn't been eating right or exercising," asked Ron Seguin, who works at the Pointe-Claire fire department, Quebec, Canada.
Seguin said he found the commercial "very, very insulting" and planned to write Kellogg to complain. "Yes I agree some dispatchers are out of shape (I being one of them...I have to admit) but not all are. The same could be said about any profession (cops, firefighters, EMTs,...)," he said.
He added, "We do a very important job and get so little recognition. Should the little attention and publicity we get in the media be degrading and insulting to all dispatchers."
Quick Response
By 9:11 a.m. the next morning, other mailing list readers began to respond. Jean Martel in Ottawa (Ontario) posted the Kellogg Web site address, so others could send e-mail to the company.
At 10:10 a.m. Chet Swanson confirmed that the address was correct and that he had sent them a message. "The total lack of respect shown towards dispatchers is I want to express my complete outrage over your television advertisement for Kellogg's Complete Cereal," Swanson wrote to Kellogg.
"This ad makes second class citizens of a critically important member of the nation's public safety team." He added that he was "seriously offended" by Kellogg's blanket indictment of dispatchers as out of shape, fat people. "Unless I see a public apology through the news media, and on the dispatchers e-mail list, along with an immediate abandoning of this offensive ad I will do everything in my power to begin a campaign against your company and it's products," Swanson typed.
Then, to underscore his seriousness, Swanson added, "If you, or members of your family, or company ever need emergency help, just remember who it is that you will be calling when you call 9-1-1. It isn't the fire fighter or the police officer who answers your emergency call. It is a caring and professional dispatcher who does a tough job, with little reward and almost no recognition."
He closed his e-mail with, "Your advertisement further degrades the performance of the professional dispatcher."
More mailing list messages flowed through the 29th and 30th. Ben Hatheway posted that, "This could explode, however it could bring dispatchers and their true role to the public eye if played correctly."
Rich Dean predicted, apparently sarcastically, "The next thing will be for diners, pizza parlors, and donut shops to make commercials portraying cops making pick ups for dispatchers after they sample the offerings themselves."
Association View
By now the Internet postings had gathered momentum and came to the attention of the largest public safety communications group, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO). The editor of the group's monthly magazine, Alan Chase, weighed in with the association's view early on May 1.
"Please know that the APCO Bulletin...is hot on the trail," Chase posted. "We are contacting Kelloggs corporate officials to demand that the ad be pulled and that an apology be issued to all dispatchers, fat and thin, around the world.
Chase added, "We will not stop in this effort till that is done, it's the least we can do for our unsung, low-paid, professional heroes who work 12-hour shifts and have to put up with the stress and everything else that no executive at Kelloggs has to put up with!"
Linda Olmstead posted to the mailing list that she talked to a woman at the Kellogg's consumer hotline and, "she was willing to tell me that she alone had spoken to five dispatchers herself, and that there was a formal memo they were supposed to paraphrase to say the company had not intended to offend anyone, just focus on `healthy foods.'"
Another View
But not all the postings were anti-Kellogg. One person named "CJ" took the commercial more casually. "OK, how many of you have ever made a joke about a police officer," he asked. "How many times do EMT's make jokes about firefighters. The army cuts the marines, the air force cuts the navy, and everyone cuts the other.
"My point is, it is a joke. I am sure everyone has laughed at a joke done by a comedian towards a specific group, race, etc. But, now the joke is directed at dispatchers, and no one seems to like it.
How about the IRS? The workers have no choice because the people above them make the rules, yet the workers get all the slams. I am starting to wonder if the overweight thing hit a raw nerve on some. I am not saying that I am the thinnest most fit person, so don't take that the wrong way.
"With all the problems with racial discrimination, sexism, and all other complaints by people saying they are discriminated against, I think as dispatchers, we should take a joke, and let it go. Thank you for letting me vent. I am sure that most of you will feel I should be expelled from the e-mail list. I heard your opinions, and this was mine."
Co. Feedback
By 4:00 p.m. on May 1, Kellogg had responded to several of the dispatchers' e-mail messages. Their response was posted for other dispatchers to read.
"Thank you for contacting Kellogg Company regarding the television commercial entitled `Firemen,'" the e-mail began. "The intent of this commercial is to encourage healthier eating habits at breakfast by eating foods such as Kellogg's Complete Bran Flakes Cereal, which are low in fat, contain dietary fiber and important nutrients.
"We certainly did not intend to offend dispatchers. We are sorry to learn you are not pleased with this particular advertisement. Viewer reaction, such as yours, is helpful to us and taken into consideration when developing future advertisements. Your concerns have been forwarded to the appropriate company officials and we hope future ads for this and our other products will be more acceptable to you. Again, thank you for sharing your views and interest in Kellogg Company."
The e-mail was "signed" by Consumer Affairs, Kellogg Company.
Their intent may have been good, but the on-line response was negative. "In other words the ad is going to stay and they don't care," wrote Carolyn Clouse.
"Your blanket response to my email regarding your firefighter commercial is totally unacceptable!" responded Bill Burke. "How dare you send me such a smug response over my concern for your bigoted attitude toward American dispatchers."
Burke said, "It is obvious by your lack of concern you are only interested in your bottom line and you don't care that you have offended a segment of the population you think you targeted by your ad."
"You've seen Kelloggs response," posted APCO's Chase. "It's not good enough. Flood them with email."
Now Victory
By 4:22 p.m. on May 2 it was all over. Kellogg had decided to stop running the commercial and to issue an apology through several public safety magazines and newsletters (see apology in this issue).
In a letter to Cindy Lebow, deputy editor of APCO's magazine, Kellogg thanked the dispatchers for their feedback, apologized for offending them and saluted "the important role this profession plays in saving lives on a daily basis." (see box)
The withdrawal wasn't immediately apparent, however. It continued to appear during network shows--usually during the morning and mid-day soap operas--until at least May 8.
"Congratulations to everyone who took the time to contact Kelloggs," wrote APCO's Chase. "They got the message. They are pulling the ad and the company issued an apology. He said, "We all accomplished this by working together to voice our concerns. Congratulations, we did it!"
Now What?
The battle was over, but Barry Furey, president of the Tennessee Chapter of APCO, reflected on the dispatchers' effort. "In the more than 25 years of my involvement in public safety," Furey said, "I have never seen a more unified front by telecommunications personnel than that presented in response to the offensive Kellogg's ad."
He congratulated everyone who participated, but admitted, "Like many of us on the (Internet) mailing list, I did not get--or, more appropriately, make--the time to add my voice to the chorus."
Furey added, "Many of our causes die because of lack of a champion. I suggest that we as an industry need to distill the spirit that so outraged us and apply it passionately to other issues of national and international concern."
He hoped that, "this unintentional catalyst could stir support for better training, better pay, and a host of other human and technical issues which plague our ranks. If we were rightfully offended as being portrayed as a group which sits around on our butts all day, let's not wait for another crisis to disprove that stereotype!"
Last Word
The last posting about the commercial was reserved for Ron Seguin, who started the entire endeavor. He was overwhelmed. "Good work," he typed in all capital letters, which is usually reserved for "yelling" on the Internet.
"I didn't know sending that first e-mail would get such a great response from everyone," Seguin said. "I thought it would just start a discussion on the subject. But I'm extremely glad to see that people are willing to fight for what is right, to voice their opinion to the all-mighty corporations and to get results. Congratulations!!!"
He mused about the Internet, saying it's "a great thing" and, "it's nice to see the good that can come out of an international networking of intelligent and caring people.
"In this case, the net did help us to quickly coordinate our efforts and achieve the appropriate result. By voicing your opinion and concern, you all did a wonderful thing: you all helped to fight oppression and discrimination," Seguin wrote.
"Dispatchers, telecommunicators, call takers, communications officers...no matter what we are called, it's nice to see that we can stick together on an important issue to us all. Dispatchers are, by nature, very caring and passionate about helping people. It's nice to see we can also help ourselves when need be."
May 2, 1997
Thank you for contacting Kellogg Company regarding the television commercial entitled "Firemen," and sharing with us the concerns of your international membership.
We certainly did not intend to offend dispatchers. Kellogg has long been committed to health and nutrition and the intent of the commercial is to encourage healthier eating habits at breakfast through high fiber low fat choices like Complete Bran Flakes cereal.
Because concerned professionals, like your members, took the time to share their views, we re-evaluated this advertisement and made the decision today to no longer air the commercial.
Due to the manner in which media is scheduled, you may see a few spots in selected markets during the next two weeks, however, we are doing all we can to discontinue the commercial. You may see the same characters in another commercial for Complete Bran Flakes in the future, but we want to assure you that the content will be changed significantly.
Viewer reaction is helpful to us and taken into consideration when developing future advertisements. Again, we appreciate the feedback provided to us and the professional and articulate manner in which it was communicated. We apologize for offending dispatchers and salute the important role this profession plays in saving lives on a daily basis.
Sincerely,
Karen Kafer
Director, Communication
Kellogg Company Corporate Headquarters
P.O. Box 3599
Battle Creek, MI 49016
copyright 1997, 911 Dispatch Services, Inc.