Posted 9:26 PM by Gene

And speaking of LOWSY'S GREATEST HITS: Kellogg's (no doubt a BIG supporter of the man and his -- MUSIC?) makes some very fine cereals, like Raisin Bran and Frosted Mini-Wheats -- and it's ANOTHER COMPANY FROM HELL. I've mentioned before how it monopolizes on the cookies-and-crackers biz with Altria MOtive Foods, but this to me is worse: The Cat in the Hat is now co-hosting some of the company's cereals. Here is a sure sign a company is wasting MY MONEY to make the CEO and the ad agencies and the TV networks feel good. HERE it means the company provided a large chunk of the production budget for the upcoming movie based on the Dr. Seuss character (from NBC Universal -- they'll get synergy coming out of their ears at 30 Rock AND Battle Creek), AND the CEO made a pest of himself by schmoozing on the set for DAYS, AND when he returned to Battle Creek he pulled a Chevy Chase to end all Chevy Chases on his staff ("I'M GOOD FRIENDS WITH MIKE MYERS AND YOU'RE NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!"), AND the company's about to spend millions and millions and millions in advertising so the CEO can boast of his friendship with MIKE MYERS, and so the company can do what it's done best since it linked up with those animators from Hell, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera -- talk down to the audience. Honestly, if Kellogg's stopped advertising people would think a lot better of it -- and I've a hunch its sales might go UP, because people will realize it's stopped financing junk movies and television, and reward the company for it.

P. S. A click on its corporate site reveals the CEO -- his name is Gutierrez -- has instituted a GLOBAL CODE OF ETHICS. To which I say, a company may be ethical in the bare-minimum or legalistic sense -- obeying the laws because it has to, making sure its employees don't get cheated because it has to -- and still act in a manner that is fundamentally unethical. One mark of this is all the commitments to Je$$e -- er, diversity on the site, always the MO of a company that applies a veneer of PC to itself to stop government intrusions, but still tries to get away with something. In this case, Kellogg's thinks it can get away with selling $10 boxes of sugary cereals to kids, and financing every crappy TV show there is. Besides, if I were a betting man I'd say ENRON had a code of ethics. So did MCI WORLDCOM.

I know I must sound like a raging crackpot, but I DETEST IT when these companies spend MY MONEY on glorified CORPORATE EMPIRE BUILDING. Earlier today Buzz suggested parents confronted with looney-left profs demand tuition refunds. I say, why shouldn't people demand refunds from Kellogg's and Unilever and P&G and Altria MOtive Foods and the whole lot of them for wasting OUR MONEY?