by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
February 8, 2024
Benjamin Crump said, “If this is how celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Master P are treated by corporate America, just imagine how lesser-known Black entrepreneurs and small-business owners are treated by powerful corporations.”
Last year, right before the summer hit, Snoop Dogg and Master P revealed that their collaborative product, Snoop Cereal, would debut in retail stores like Walmart, Target, and online retailer Amazon. Now the duo are suing Walmart after accusing the store of sabotaging the brand, and intend to “take a stand against the defendants for their diabolical actions.”
According to MarketWatch, Broadus Foods, the company owned by Snoop and Master P, has filed a lawsuit in a Minnesota courtroom accusing Walmart and Post Consumer Brands (Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, Honeycomb, etc.) of stifling their product and jeopardizing sales of Snoop Cereal by keeping the items off the floor and leaving them in the stockroom.
“Post entered a false arrangement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing Snoop Cereal from being sold or produced by any competitor,” the suit stated. “Broadus Foods brings this suit to take a stand against the defendants for their diabolical actions.”
The lawsuit was filed by esteemed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump.
The two rappers have stated that when the item debuted in July 2023, consumers started snatching them up, but then boxes of Snoop Cereal, Momma Snoop syrup, and other products in the line started to disappear from store shelves, particularly at Walmart. People who wanted to purchase the product started posting online that the stores didn’t have them on the sales floor, and the stores’ computer systems would list the items as out of stock. Yet, Walmart workers were finding that there were hundreds of boxes sitting in storerooms.
This led to an online campaign encouraging shoppers to go to their local Walmart and, if they didn’t see it, request that it be brought from the stockroom by a store manager.
Crump said, “This case shines a light on the steep challenges faced by minority-owned businesses in securing fair opportunities in the marketplace. If this is how celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Master P are treated by corporate America, just imagine how lesser-known Black entrepreneurs and small-business owners are treated by powerful corporations.”
Yet Walmart and Post Consumer Brands deny not showcasing the product, and say customers aren’t seeing it due to lack of sales.
“Post Consumer Brands was excited to partner with Broadus Foods, and we made substantial investments in the business,” Post said in a written statement. “We were equally disappointed that consumer demand did not meet expectations.”
While Walmart said it valued its “relationships with our suppliers, and we have a strong history of supporting entrepreneurs,” and that “many factors affect the sales of any given product, including consumer demand, seasonality, and price, to name a few.”
The lawsuit also said that the cereal line was supposed to sell at an affordable price, yet when it was available in stores, it was available for sale at over $10 a box.
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