If you want a good lesson in the power of words, branding, and crisis PR, consider the case of a product its maker calls “lean, finely textured beef” and others call “pink slime.”
The campaign to rid supermarkets, schools, and restaurants of “pink slime” is having an effect on its maker, according to the Huffington Post:
Craig Letch, director of food quality and assurance for Beef Products Inc., declined to discuss financial details, but said business has taken a “substantial” hit since social media exploded with worry over the ammonia-treated filler and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools drew hundreds of thousands of supporters. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided school districts may stop using it and some retail chains have pulled products containing it from their shelves.
Beef Products isn’t going to get slimed in the court of public opinion and just accept it, however. They’ve launched a new website called Beef Is Beef to counter the claims of its critics.
A WHOIS trace shows that PR firm Ketchum owns the website.
