Hip-hop icons Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing Walmart and Post Foods, alleging both companies conspired to keep the duo’s cereal from being properly distributed and participated in “deceptive trade practices.”
Oh Where, Oh Where is Snoop Cereal?
Collecting dust in the back of the stockrooms at Walmarts, Snoop Cereal, Snoop’s branded cereal, is nowhere to be found on the shelves for customers, according to the rappers’ complaint. The lawsuit alleges that customers at Walmart interested in purchasing are finding it difficult to track down boxes in the cereal aisle, ABC News reported.
Since August 2022, Snoop Cereal, a joint project between Snoop and Master P, has been partnering with cereal maker Post Consumer Brands and officially had landed a lucrative distribution deal in stores such as Walmart, Kroger, Target, and Ralphs in May 2023.
The rap moguls have acquired prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to take on Walmart and Post Cereal. And it seems he’s ready for the fight. At a press conference in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, the attorney said, “This was collusion, breach of contract and fraud. A pattern and practice from coast to coast.”
The Lawsuit
During the conference, Crump presented video evidence revealing that shoppers in no fewer than 20 Walmart stores nationwide struggled to locate Snoop Cereal. A particularly damning revelation emerged from one video, wherein unidentified Walmart employees directed shoppers to sealed shipping boxes in the store room, affirming that the products had never been assigned a designated “location” within the store.
“They kept them back in the stock room!” Crump said. “Where people who wanted affordable, nutritious cereal could not find them.”
At a press conference, Crump compared Master P and Snoop’s fight to that of fights for justice by civivl rights leaders.
“Just like Rosa Parks refused to stay in the back of the bus, we refuse to have Black business’ products, like Snoop Cereal, stay in the back of the warehouse,” Crump said. “Walmart…Posts…until you do right, don’t expect us to continue to support you, if you don’t support our black businesses.”
Both defendants issued statements on Feb. 6, attributing the absence of Snoop Dogg-based cereal in Walmart stores to low consumer demand. Post expressed disappointment in the cereal’s performance in the marketplace.
Walmart released a statement saying, “[it] values our relationships with our suppliers, and we have a strong history of supporting entrepreneurs. Many factors affect the sales of any given product, including consumer demand, seasonality and price to name a few. We will respond as appropriate with the court once we are served with the complaint.”
Similarly, a Post representative said the following: “Post Consumer Brands was excited to partner with Broadus Foods and we made substantial investments in the business. We were equally disappointed that consumer demand did not meet expectations.”
Master P added at the press conference, “We’re not saying that we can’t do business with them, we just want a fair shot and a fair chance.”
The cereal was first introduced as “Snoop Loopz” under Broadus Foods in August 2022. Snoop. Snoop and Master P were forced to change the name because it was too similar to Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal. The rap collaborators rebranded it as Snoop Cereal.
With proceeds from each sale of Snoop Cereal supposedly to be donated to charitable organizations, such as Door of Hope, which aids the homeless, the alleged interference by Walmart and Post Brands plays a bigger role than killing the rappers’ cereal business. It’s, they claim, harming people in need.
“Our mission is to build diversity and economic empowerment. Times have changed. There’s enough room for all of us to be successful. This is bigger than us, we are fighting for the next generation of entrepreneurs. We’re no longer just being consumers, we’re educating the culture building our own brands, and passing down generational wealth. Broadus Foods is all about helping the community. It’s official we’re taking over the breakfast foods industry. They can’t stop us. It’s David versus Goliath. @masterp and I got the slingshot,” Snoop Dogg posted on Instagram about the launch of his cereal.
