Ronn Torossian

Ronn Torossian

In the past week, the Internet has been filled with faux cereal box covers thanks to a Twitter campaign meant to disparage and embarrass right-wing news, opinion and political commentary site, Breitbart. The avalanche of social media comedy at Breitbart’s expense came after the news site called for a boycott of Kellogg’s products when that multinational food manufacturing company pulled its advertising from Breitbart on the heels of its positive coverage of the Trump campaign.

Breitbart called for fans to “ban bigotry from the breakfast table” by posting on social media using the hashtag #DumpKelloggs. Steve Bannon, who left the site to run Trump’s strategy team, upped the ante, calling Kellogg’s decision to pull its advertising “an escalation of war.” Breitbart fans responded accordingly, attacking the company, promising a boycott and castigating Kellogg’s in a series of tweets and other social media posts aimed at hammering home the point, which to most of them, amounted to: stay out of politics!

Kellogg’s

Kellogg’s pulled no punches in letting everyone know why they were no longer advertising on the site, saying Breitbart didn’t align with company values. Breitbart responded by calling Kellogg’s a “leftist company,” and lashed out at the media partners who helped Trump get elected.

But the Internet, as it often does, got the last laugh. After a Reddit user posted a headline poking fun at Breitbart for being a “cereal killer,” another user responded: “That explains the boxes of Alt-Rice Krispies I’m seeing on the shelves…” Alt-Rice, a play on “alt-right,” a self-defined term for the far right ideologues who frequent Breitbart and often contribute to both its articles and comment threads, was the meme that spawned a social media cavalcade.

The joke sparked an ongoing tweetstorm of fake cereal names bent on poking fun at Breitbart. The tweets came fast and furious, including such upvoted and retweeted entries as “Grope Nuts,” “Special KKK,” and “Shredded Constitution.” And it just went on from there, with fans of Kellogg’s and fans of Breitbart trading barbs online across multiple social media platforms. At this point, guns are still blazing as some commit to boycott and others promise to buy even more Kellogg’s products.

While this will eventually die down, it’s one more example of how quickly a dispute can grow when the brand or entity in question has a well-cultivated group of fans ready and willing to come to its aid at any provocation.

Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, one of the leading American PR Firms.