Clever advertising slogans are designed not just to be memorable but also to convey a change. Take Clara Peller yelling, “Where’s the Beef?” as she gazed at the hockey puck of a beef patty on her hamburger. She was in a TV commercial for Wendy’s subtly telling current and potential customers that if you want a hamburger large enough to outsize the bun like their square patty that lapped over the edges, then Wendy’s burgers were for you. Or, what about Ving Rhames in his inimitable stentorian voice telling us all, “We have the meats!” signaling that Arby’s was where you should go if you want real meat and lots of it.

The one I referenced in this blog’s title is in a TV commercial for a hybrid car from Hyundai but could be a great metaphor for our meat and poultry industry. How so? It represents a time passing. The gas station attendant/owner tells the customer that if gas isn’t bought then the squeegee cannot be used. Even at $5.00 per gallon, very little gas is needed by the customer because the car is a hybrid electric/gas vehicle and uses little if any gas for propulsion. The attendant’s insistence on tying use of what his customer does need, a squeegee, to something he doesn’t, gas, portends his station’s demise. Are we in the meat industry the gas station attendant or the car company?

Is the meat and poultry industry not recognizing that a subtle change is occurring, what with plant and cell-based “meats” becoming realities? One could construct compelling arguments on both sides of that question, but suffice it to say that people are still eating and enjoying animal protein. Witness the pent up demand for all things beef and poultry as we emerged from the COVID pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. It seems any prognostications of our industry’s demise may be premature.

But how we market meat may need some changes. The consumer is our final arbiter and what we in the meat and poultry industry must respond to are the needs of those who buy our products. Why they continue to buy them is the question we must constantly ask, as those purchase motivations have changed and will continue to do so. In the final analysis, our consumers want great tasting, nutritious and reasonably priced meat and poultry. So, to lecture them that our products, whether they be beef or chicken, is what’s for dinner is a strategy that just isn’t relevant to their fast paced, social networking, nutrition first and don’t forget about protecting the environment needs. How our industry uses the inputs of land, water and human resources has begun to enter the minds of consumers and influence their purchase decisions.

Some may pooh-pooh the idea that consumers are concerned about climate change and environmental aspects of raising cattle for food, or how perceived “factory farming” affects the future of land viability. It might be said that folks just want good, old fashioned beef or maybe a boneless, skinless, chicken breast or two, leaving the rest of the cattle and chicken parts to the hamburger joints and fast food chicken emporiums. And, to a degree they are right. Our consumers may have environmental concerns lying dormant in their minds that are latent but decision impactful. These thoughts are assuaged with fact-based arguments from us that our industry has made monumental strides in environmental enhancement and protection and will do more as we continue to raise and supply a needed and valuable food. While climate change may be argued ad nauseum, to deny it is foolish. We should embrace it as fact and contribute to its reversal.

By the way, today is my birthday and as I close in on the later part of my 70s, I am still excited about the future of our industry. Sure, I have lamented some of our past indiscretions and petulant decisions about future courses of action, which you can access in my past blogs. We are an important and necessary part of a free and open society that values honest, human interaction and needs. We provide a food product of which we all can be proud. I know I am.

But, resting on laurels is a fool’s game; let’s avoid that trap.

No gas, no squeegee

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