EDMONTON – An advertising campaign can soften the effects of lost consumer confidence from a BSE scare, says a University of Alberta student.
Getu Hailu said after the announcement that there was a connection between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Britain in1996, beef consumption dropped dramatically.
Meat sales plunged 26 percent after scientists announced a connection between the animal disease and the human disease.
In an attempt to fight dropping beef consumption, a massive advertising campaign was launched to rebuild consumer confidence, said Hailu during a University of Alberta conference on branding, labelling and identity preservation.
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“Yes, it rebounded but it did not come back to the 1995 level,” he said.
Hailu said each British pound ($2.30 Cdn) invested in advertising created an increase in meat sales of 3.9 £ ($8.85).
“Advertising has a significant effect on the consumption of meat products,” he said.
The announcement connecting vCJD with BSE also had a negative effect on pork, he said. Consumption of pork dropped even though there is no connection between pork and beef. However that same announcement created a rise in the consumption of chicken.
“Beef food safety has a significant spillover effect on pork, but has a positive effect on chicken,” said Hailu.
