The Thankyou Postcard

[cowman]

Did you recieve a postcard from the ABP or CCA or someone thanking you for buying Alberta beef? Three babes on the front and a really cruddy recipe on the back? Apparently it cost $375,000.
Now maybe I'm not thinking right here or something, but I consider this a rather extravagant waste of money? Was this that "market enhancement" thing that ABP insisted we fork over another dollar for? They were pleading poverty and insisting they needed the extra buck to rebuild our markets. I guess this is it?
Am I out to lunch on this? What do you think?

[StrawBoss]

The Alberta Beef Producers should have spent the $375,000.00 and try to stop the TV news media S.O.B’s from showing pictures at suppertime ( 6:00 PM news )-- that were taken in EU years ago) with the poor Holstein cow falling all over the place. They always refer to it as mad cow disease--- the poor critter is not mad just sick and can’t walk ---who’s promoting this crap, PETA?

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, I agree this looks a total waste of hard earned producer dollars. StrawBoss, - that old cow on TV you speak of is one of only two images I have ever seen of a BSE infected cow. Take any ill/lame cow and chase it hard across wet sloping concrete and she is likely to fall. It is an unfortunate and unnecessary image to continually show.

[cowman]

They should set up a camera outside the Drayton bar at 2 AM when they throw the rig hands out! Then you could see some real funny behavior! They could label it "MAD Rig Pigs"!

[cakadu]

I can see some logic in doing this - running ads in papers might be somewhat less costly and have some of the same effect.

On the other hand, when things are looking so dismal in the short term, it does seem like an awful lot of money for something that people are going to look at - possibly - and then throw away.

What are they going to do to measure the success of such an endeavour? Without knowing how effective it actually is, how are they going to know whether or not to do something like this again?

It seems to me that dropping the price of beef in the store might be just as effective, if not more so.

[cowman]

Linda: If the truth was known Cargill and IBP and Safeway and Sobeys should have been sending out the postcards! After all they were the ones who really made the money off the Canadian consumer?
The ABP told everyone they needed more money to expand and re-establish our export markets. I think most people realized this was mostly hogwash and the real reason they needed the extra buck was that revenues were down and they needed to keep up their current lifestyle? I mean they have a certain image to uphold?
If they wanted to thank their customers how about a poster at every meat counter? The Grocers are always spouting off about how they are supporting the primary beef producer, so there should have been no problem with a poster?
But then that would have been low cost and sensible! We create these little beuracracies and over time they become huge beuracracies that are way out of touch with the peasants! Thus we see a waste of $375,000 while the peasants go broke?