Our users’ interest in the effect of peanut butter, pot and Pot-Tarts on Kellogg’s reputation seems to be shared by many in the media.   A few days ago, we put together a chart that showed the downward trend in Kellogg’s reputation, and it was kindly picked up by Nicholas Carlson of  Business Insider, and then the Consumerist.   Our chartsmanship itself was the subject of much debate, with perhaps the best comment coming from a Consumerist user named Gann: “This chart’s ugliness is more than offset by the complete awesomeness that it represents.”

To our surprise, things didn’t stop there.   The story was picked up by a remarkably wide variety of media, from Fast Company, NBC, ABC, Advertising Age, the Atlantic and the Globe and Mail to the Huffington Post and PerezHilton.

Some commentators even tried to link the drop in Kellogg’s reputation to its recent financial performance.  Of course, Vanno isn’t in the stock price prediction business and, as anyone who looks under the hood at our scoring algorithm will see, we’re well aware that correlation is not necessarily causation.   It was, however, fun to see people passionately debate the possibilities.

We’re gratified by the attention, particularly from CNN and Lou Dobbs, but most happy to see people using Vanno to turn a brighter light on the behavior of the companies that inhabit our lives.