Kellogg in Hot Water for Pulling Ads from Breitbart

Battle Creek based Kellogg pulled advertising from Breitbart site due to different values.  So, why the backlash? 

According to CNN Money,

"We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren't aligned with our values as a company," Kellogg (K) said in a statement. "We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site."

That decision comes amid scrutiny over Breitbart's controversial populist, anti-immigrant worldview, and in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to appoint former Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon as his chief White House strategist.

At first, it's difficult to see how this could possibly be news.  Companies both large and small make decisions like this every day.  They have to market to the right people at the same time protecting their brand.  Then Breitbart News launched a campaign against Kellogg says the NY Post,

As of Thursday evening, more than 150,000 had signed the Breitbart petition, the news site said.

Breitbart News, co-founded by Steve Bannon, chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump, launched the broadside against the Battle Creek, Mich., company after Kellogg on Tuesday publicly stated it didn’t want its ads to appear on the controversial site.

According to that same NY Post article Kellogg is not alone.

Kellogg was joined by other advertisers including Warby Parker, Allstate, Nest, EarthLink and SoFi. Some of their ads ended up on Breitbart because of targeting, or ads that follow users around the web.

Breitbart has 19.2 million users, according to ComScore, and has made a name for itself by highlighting provocative pieces with headlines like, “There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women In Tech, They Just Suck At Interviews.”

Shockingly enough, both Breitbart and Kellogg are right, or at least with in their rights in this case.  Clearly Kellogg is making the right decision for the best of their brand.  They have the right to choose where and where not to advertise.  Just as Breitbart has the right to attempt to publicly shame Kellogg for doing so.  However, it makes me wonder why a large company would dare advertise on this site with the fear of public shame and boycott if the pull their ads in the future.

Do you think this move will hurt or help Kellogg in the future?  Leave your comments below.