diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 23bf7ea12..777d7822a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,10 +35,13 @@ from confluent_kafka import Consumer
 c = Consumer({'bootstrap.servers': 'mybroker', 'group.id': 'mygroup',
               'default.topic.config': {'auto.offset.reset': 'smallest'}})
 c.subscribe(['mytopic'])
+running = True
 while running:
     msg = c.poll()
     if not msg.error():
         print('Received message: %s' % msg.value().decode('utf-8'))
+    else:
+        running = False
 c.close()
 ```