MAD COW: IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

January 20, 2004

The Denver Post reports that " livestock organizations are launching

a $5.5 million media campaign to promote domestic demand for beef

in the face of mad-cow concerns. A $4 million series of television

ads will launch Monday. They were originally scheduled to start

January 12, but the beef groups decided to delay the campaign for

two weeks while news coverage of mad cow disease eased up. ...

'From a marketing perspective, consumers watching (mad cow) news

clips followed by 'Beef, it's what's for dinner' was not what we

wanted,' said Mark Thomas, vice president of global marketing for

the [National Cattlemen's Beef Association]. U.S. beef exports have

been virtually shut down since the mad- cow case, causing wholesale

prices to fall 25 percent. ... The new $5.5 million beef campaign

includes $1.3 million from the industry's " crisis fund " to help

sway public opinion. The crisis fund will help launch a radio

advertising and promotional campaign that will piggyback on the new

TV ads. " The US government still refuses to take the only steps

known to control mad cow disease, a total ban on feeding

slaughterhouse waste to livestock, and the testing of millions of

cows. In the past month more than 70,000 people have downloaded a

free copy of Mad Cow USA, our 1997 investigation of this issue, and

25,000 people a day are getting their mad cow information from the

website of the Organic Consumers Association.

SOURCE: Denver Post, January 20, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

Hotjobs: Enter the " Signing Bonus " Sweepstakes

Recommended Posts