Can man live on bacon alone? Oscar Mayer is giving it a shot

Have bacon, will travel.

That's the idea behind Oscar Mayer's clever new online campaign. They're sending a man across the United States with no money. All he has is a van full of Oscar Mayer bacon to barter for non-bacon food, lodging, and other expenses.



The campaign offers people along the route to make barter offers with "Josh Sankey" via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.

I'm not a big fan of factory farmed and mass-processed bacon. But as far as marketing is concerned, this is pretty damn tasty.

Tip via NY Times

Have a butcher's* at the sexploitation campaign of the day

*Butcher's Hook

Every morning, I get up early and enjoy some quiet time reading adblogs. Because the European ones are several hours ahead of me, it means I can get on top of the news before my second cup of coffee. Unfortunately, it also sometimes results in me hating being in advertising before I even get to the office.

Today was one of those days.

Full-size JPEG here

This rather disappointing campaign by BJL, featured in The Drum, is for Rustler's meat snacks. It features Lexi O’Leary (a fictional "butcher's daughter" who has her own Facebook profile) as a brainless sex toy fond of making naughty puns. Well... mostly brainless: The Facebook bio claims she's trilingual.

Full-size JPEG here

From The Drum:

John Armstrong, Rustlers marketing director, said: “Fit As A Butcher’s Daughter will dispel some of the negatives in a manner that will not only appeal to our target market of 16 to 24-year-old males but will also engage people who may not have tried the brand due to their misconceptions."

Full-size JPEG here

Misconceptions? How about the misconception that oversexed women lounge around in their underwear, just waiting for a zitty 17-year-old boy to give her a good boning?

It gets worse. In an interactive video, you can apparently edit her potty mouth. I couldn't be bothered.

There's a virtual butcher shop, too. And a TV campaign that won't load for me.

The one thing I am intrigued about is this expression, "Fit as a butcher's daughter". Is this a UK thing? I can't find it anywhere online.

"F*ck the Diet" - now THAT's a food slogan

Du Darfst is a German company that produces butter, cheese, sausages and other rather gluttonous foods. For their latest campaign, they have decided to create a movement, "Fuck the Diet", encouraging people to make nutritional contrariness part of their social identity.



In addition to the above video and links to a Facebook page the campaign site features advice from a nutritionist named Silke Kayadelen who says "I want to stay as I am!" It champions the approach of simple choices in food and exercise to enjoy life without getting fat. And it features recipes.

Yeah... I'm assuming this is aimed at women.

It may not be the most nutritionally sensible approach, but I sure do love the tagline.

Thanks to Tatjana Vukic for the tip!

The least appropriate use of female sexuality in point-of-sale... ever

AdFreak shared this bizarre standee from Germany, advertising Jack Link's beef jerky.

There is simply no way I want to associate leathery preserved meat with sex. Hell, I didn't even like it when Lady Gaga wore fresh steak.

A little Gooogling revealed that not only is this campaign well known in Europe, but Jack's links actually teamed up with Maxim UK to run a contest across the continent to find the next "Jack's Girl".

Here's the winner, "Tillie T from Nottingham, UK":

Marketing Big Meat

Mother Jones recently ran an interesting exclusive: branding and packaging pages from a draft marketing plan fror Sara Lee about how they could reposition Hillshire Farm deli meats as a more sustainable and healthy option.

The scanned document looks like it was nicked from a recycling bin, but it's worth reading just for gems like this:

Give it up for pepper!

And this:

Good job, bees!

This off-the-cuff, conversational style is supposed to represent a new era of transparency and sustainability  in megameat.

Well, aspiring to transparency and sustainability anyway. And buying up small farms so that their newly-pluralized brand name actually means something.

It's good, though, that consumer pressure is forcing big processors into at least wanting to be seen as wholesome and small.

They also want to break into the food snob market by developing two new premium brands, "Smith & Smith" and "Flat Iron Ranch".

"Size of the prize"? I'm amazed that agency people can present that to a client with a straight face. But they also committed the following atrocities:

I am so ashamed of my industry right now.

Does this look into the marketing minds behind Big Meat surprise you? Disappoint you? Or just confirm what you already suspected.

This kind of rebranding, dressing factory-processed meat in a neighbourhood butcher's apron, is happening throughout the packaged meat sector.

But the big question is, how much marketing spin are you prepared to swallow?

And note to self: shred all draft marketing plans.