Remember the nursery rhyme Little Piggy? ”This little piggy went to market, This little piggy stayed home…” This ditty could soon bring tears to the eyes of hardworking hog farmers if bacon-loving Americans turn a cheek on the ‘Other White Meat’.
The WWBD Spinner (mcphee.com)
Meat-eater or not, you can’t ignore the financial blow our economy will take if the Swine Flu hysteria hurts the pork industry. Well over 500,000 Americans have a pork-related job (whether directly or indirectly). And the industry added $34.5 billion to the country’s gross national product at last published count. (source: NNPC)
Despite our government’s move to change ‘Swine Flu’ to the more clinical name ‘H1N1 Flu’, the damage to poor little piggy’s reputation could already been done. Until mid-week, the World Health Organization didn’t help the matter by picturing pigs alongside its pandemic alerts, and the national news was just as slow in emphasizing the safety of eating pork.
Let’s Put the Passion Back in Pork
Seriously, gang, let’s not let the pork industry suffer needlessly. Order a BLT at lunch. Grin and bear it when your kids want hotdogs at dinner. And remember, nothing says comfort like savory pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes.
You say you don’t eat pork but wish you could spread the word (versus germs)? I’ve got just the answer, and I’m sharing it because it’s too good to keep to myself. Accessorize yourself with some of the lighthearted pro-pork goodies from Seattle-based Archie McPhee.
The Bacon Watch
I discovered this odd-but-hilarious purveyer of weird toys when a former employee of mine received a Seth Godin figurine for his birthday. You have to check out the site, because it caters to just about every wacky obsession under the sun.
Uncle Oinker's Bacon Mints
In addition to the WWBD Spinner and the Bacon Watch, you’ll find Uncle Oinker’s Gummy Bacon, Bacon-shaped Dental Floss and a 3-pack of Corndog Air Fresheners (to name a few).
Archie McPhee offers us a little levity in the midst of a non-joking worldwide health threat. They deserve a few minutes of your lunch break, and I promise you’ll get a chuckle.
And on the positive side, Archie McPhee just might see a spike in its pork-related product sales. Good luck, Archie.
Bacon and Eggs Bandaids
On a Twitter Note
Even the National Pork Producers Council missed a critical opportunity at the start of the week to use Twitter to shore up citizen confidence. Although the NNPC was already on Twitter, its tweets have lacked the passionate voice that makes social media so powerful. As of the time of this article, the NNPC has only 312 followers. The CDC, on the other hand, has nearly 52,000 followers. Here are just a few Tweeps I’m following for information related to this topic:
Related News Stories & Info about the H1N1 (Formerly Known as Swine) Flu:
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David from Archie McPhee here. Thanks for the great post!
You can follow @archiemcphee on twitter for non-swine flu related fun stuff!
http://bacolicio.us/http://digdeepthinker.com/2009/04/30/what-would-bacon-do/#comments
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