There’s an old saying in the world of sales and marketing: “You don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle.”
A recently launched billboard in Indianapolis is attempting to take the sizzle out of one kind of steak: tube steak.
The hot dog has become the culinary villain du jour as the billboard warns that “hot dogs can wreck your health” and shows hot dogs nestled in a cigarette pack.
Is that any way to treat a food so American it was included with “apple pie and baseball” in an old Chevrolet jingle?
Controversy and drama naturally intrigue the media. I’ve often thought that any story can be front page news if it contains three of the following four elements: a Congressman, food safety scare, massage parlor or handgun.
As they say in Journalism 101, if it bleeds, it leads.
Within days, the hot dog billboard was capturing headlines in national media including the Washington Post and Fox News. Suddenly hot dogs, never recognized as the poster child for healthful eating, were portrayed as the cigarettes of the food world.
Of course, media bullying isn’t the exclusive domain of those who oppose meat. Ralph Nadar’s “Unsafe at any Speed” nearly spelled the demise for uncovered coupes.
What’s a company, or an industry, to do when it finds itself in the crosshairs of a hostile group seeking to impose its preferences on all?
Responding to media stories about the billboard, the American Meat Institute (AMI) stepped up to the plate not with an attitude of Porky’s revenge but of expertly and dispassionately responding to the stories.
AMI’s response serves as an example of how to respond when attacked in the media.
First, AMI responded with a science-based, not an emotional, response. They drew upon the expertise from scientists at Harvard University who had published research affirming that hot dog consumption does not present undue risk.
Second, AMI didn’t become overly reactive, but instead stayed dispassionate, asserting that the safety of food is under the auspices of regulatory agencies such as the FDA.
Finally, AMI simply stated the facts and avoided negative words. It didn’t acknowledge that hot dogs can wreck your health but stuck with the sound bites, “Hot dogs are part of a healthy, balanced diet” and “They are an excellent source of protein, vitamins and minerals.”
Of course, AMI’s comments didn’t appear in many articles. As Dr. Terry Etherton blogged on Penn State’s Blog on Biotech, “The story of how contemporary food production practices allow the United States to produce the world’s safest food supply is one that tends to get ‘lost’ in the media.”
Ironically, AMI’s non-retaliatory response reflects other sage counsel of a porcine nature that any company can use when unfairly attacked: Don’t wrestle with a pig because you’ll get dirty and the pig will enjoy it.
Susan Miller is owner of Ewing Miller Communications, an Anderson-based marketing and public relations consulting firm. Her column appears in the Herald Bulletin on Thursdays. Write to her at susan@ewingmiller.com.
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Susan Miller: A porcine approach to handling media attacks
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