A recent marketing campaign by the A&W hamburger chain has seen the beef industry express some exasperation with what seems like misleading advertising. The chain is promoting its burgers as not having any added hormones or steroids, which implies competitors’ burgers do have such added products, and so there may be a health risk.
Industry organizations have questioned and even condemned this slight-of-mind advertising approach, as there is no scientific proof burgers are better or worse with minuscule levels of added hormones or steroids. They also contend it puts some doubt in consumers’ minds about beef in general.
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The science folks at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association note claims about hormone-free beef are typically based on production practices and rarely come with proof of testing. That’s because testing for hormone levels in meat is a costly and lengthy process. A similar approach is taken by organic certification where the process is certified — but little or no testing is done to guarantee actual product purity.
It’s an accepted practice by government regulators, so the A&W promotion is on pretty good legal ground. It’s similar to claims about “Angus” beef burgers — it would be fairly difficult and costly to prove through testing the cattle breed ancestry of any hamburger.
To add insult to injury, the A&W TV commercials show hamburger eaters stating that the alleged lower-hormone/steroid burgers are delicious — implying competitors’ burgers with the added products must taste worse.
It’s all marketing mischief, of course. Clearly any consumer saying otherwise would not be in the A&W commercial. It should be noted many folks in such endorsement-type commercials are paid a sliding fee according to a union scale and the broadcasting schedule (a relative of mine was once in such a commercial). So it’s fair to assume that these same folks would make the exact same delicious statements about a competitor’s burgers if given the opportunity. That’s just the way advertising works — all is fair in the market share war.
Still, it makes you wonder about the motives of A&W in this campaign beside getting a perceived merchandising advantage over competitors. I suspect that this may have something to do with the cost of raw hamburger. Few Australian cattle are fed in feedlots where hormone implants are used. I expect cunning marketing guys at A&W saw this win-win situation — being as their competitors generally buy more expensive Canadian beef for their burgers. Add into that some fearmongering about hormones and you are two steps ahead of the competition. As I said, all is fair in the hamburger market share war
