As suggested by Chris Brunner on Lew Rockwell’s blog, I wrote an email to Kellogg’s Chief Marketing Officer Mark Baynes about my discontent with their cutting off Michael Phelps as a spokesman after his marijuana picture surfaced.
Here is the reply I received, 58 minutes later:
“Dear Ms [Libertarian Girl]
Thank you for your note and POV but given how grossly misrepresented this situation has become I would like to reply
We did not drop M Phelps we simply chose not renew his contract which expired in February. This was no different to the other group of Olympic athletes whose contracts expired. In recent months we have scaled back our NASCAR sponsorship and many other activitites that showed a low return on our investment. This had nothing to with his widely publicized incident but purely to do with business
Both of us have been the victims of misinformation by people who have their own agenda. Michael phelps contract would have ended regardless of his behaviour.
I hope this gives you another view of the subject.Yours sincerely
Mark Baynes
Sent from my mobile device”
According to the headers, the email came from Baynes’ iPhone.
Tonight on Bill O’Reilly’s show, Diane Brady from BusinessWeek said: “They did absolutely the right thing. If you had to choose between 10,000 parents e-mailing you or 10,000 pot smokers, I think I’d alienate the pot smokers. So I think they did the right thing.”
In many cases, parents and pot smokers are the same people, Diane. Rob Kampia thinks it’s despicable:
“”Kellogg’s had no problem signing up Phelps when he had a conviction for drunk driving, an illegal act that could actually have killed someone. To drop him for choosing to relax with a substance that’s safer than beer is an outrage, and it sends a dangerous message to young people.”
Here in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia there was a bill recently introduced (AB390) to legalize marijuana and to tax it at a higher rate than cigarettes. While I fully support the legalization of a “drug” that is less harmful than alcohol, I think we can do it without all those taxes. Because marijuana is so easy to grow, the illegal growers will continue to sell pot but without the $50 per ounce surcharge.
Forrest
February 28th, 2009
it’s never an issue…
Mary Frances
March 5th, 2009
I love how the press release completely contradicts Baynes’ message.
Ambrose
March 14th, 2009
Taxed and regulated would certainly be better than totally illegal. There is a domestic black market for cigarettes due to different taxes in various states; business owners would still succeed with a marijuana product because many patrons wouldn’t take the chance at doing something illegal or would like the convenience of buying it in a store.
libertariangirl
April 4th, 2009
thought you might enjoy this twitter
http://twitter.com/ourenemy
it’s from the point of view of the state
thanks man!
The State
April 16th, 2009
I’ve just made my first Twitter post, good timing.
libertariangirl
April 21st, 2009