As for no connection between sales and social responsibility I never claimed there was a connection. If business is only about sales then why even bother rating the other elements – it was you that used the Vannos statistics not me. So if anyone is busted its you. Again your assumptions about Europe and the attitude there is based obviously on media hype and not facts.

Whilst your username is obviously tongue-in-cheek, it also affords you the comfort of not being open with your opinions. At least when I share my opinions on my blog, I own them.

Nice debate though. And I honestly and wholeheartedly thank you for taking the time out to leave comments and develop a debate on this. More people should be as involved. Enjoy your weekend too.

The bottom line is that *I* don’t pretend to be a business expert, I’m just giving my opinion. And yes, I think it’s very safe to say that generally speaking Europe has more relaxed attitudes on cultural issues, relative to the U.S.

Having a glass of wine with dinner at a young age isn’t outrageous, and seeing a nipple slip doesn’t create an absurd uproar (hello Janet Jackson).

My username is tongue-in-cheek, which is obvious, or at least it should be. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and let’s agree to disagree as we’re not making much progress here.

You know, corporations that do things about a million times more damaging than having a big face get caught smoking pot. If the worst externality a corporation has is making some parents uncomfortable and forcing them to discuss drugs, I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job.

PS—Not many old, conservative Americans wearing Speedos out there, and attitudes tend to be more relaxed (generally speaking) in European countries where Speedos are more common outside of sports.

Still think that Kellogg made a bad move?

And it’s not Cenk Uygur who’s out of touch, it’s uptight, conservative (not necessarily politically speaking) types (you know, people who think tickets for jaywalking are are always a good idea because a law is a law) who are out of touch.

How have other companies, the ones who didn’t drop Phelps, fared lately? I haven’t seen any stories showing a mass outcry or drop or trend in sales or brand reputation, have you?

I didn’t think so.

The point of this post was that the implication of Cenk’s post was that brands should practice double standards. Test employees but if you are famous that’s ok you can break the law – whether you agree with the law or not, Phelps broke it. Is that the type of brand advocate Kellogg’s should use? That brands should be ok with it because it will help them maintain market share. Personally I would rather support a brand that stands for something than a brand that will be swayed by a minority opinion (42% is still a minority).

Another commenter made a dumb joke about Cenk smoking, despite the fact that he clearly states in the article that he doesn’t smoke marijuana, and if you watch his show he never makes references to smoking it, unlike, say, Bill Maher.

Finally, it’s not just that the brand name dropped dramatically in the rankings, it’s that sales also dropped. I’m just a commenter so I put the burden of proof on the author of this blog to disupte any of this with non-biased sources.

Of course I don’t expect that because he didn’t include a single link in his post.

When Kellogg’s decided to drop him they created a lot more controversy around their brand that probably outweighed the long term benefits they would have gotten out of Phelps’ endorsement.

The public has a very short term memory and this would have blown over faster than Phelps’ swim lap.