Raisin Bran and other Cereal Wars
What They Didn’t Teach You in Business School and What You Need to Know
Introduction
In my thirty-some years of lobbying for Kellogg Company in Washington, D.C., state capitols and around the world, I was repeatedly asked three questions: “How does someone become a lobbyist?,” “Why does Kellogg need a lobbyist?,” and, more generally, “What do lobbyists do?” It also became apparent how little business people know about government relations, an area of endeavor hardly mentioned, much less taught, in business school.
CHapter 5
The two issues which ensure continued employment for food lobbyists are the sugar program and advertising to children. Regardless of which side you are on, these two issues continue to be gifts that keep giving and have put a lot of lobbyists’ kids through college. They also have changed the definition of winning and losing. When it comes to advertising to children, not losing equates to winning for companies.
CHapter 8
As a lobbyist, an integral part of your job is giving away money, almost none of which is yours. You give it to people running for political office with the hope that when they are in office they will do things for you. You can’t just give it to them, however. Instead lobbyists partake in a mating process that entails a lot of sitting, standing, drinking and eating. You give your liver and your waistline for the cause.