Sorry, didn't realize "advertising" was the buzz word you were after.
Big deal, but are you certain that is the ONLY reason for popularity of CAB, therefore "Angus" in a name?
I should have known better about the requirement for percentage Angus, or lack thereof, as I've heard several promotional/informational talks about CAB......and the problems with 'copycat' brands that give disappointing eating experienes which turns some people off to the CAB branded beef.
OT, what is the amount of the Australian beef checkoff per head now? Las time I heard it, maybe five years ago, it was about $7.00 per head.
Do we really want to match our puny $1.00 per head Checkoff up against that in advertising country of origin????
R-culters have claimed that all that is needed is a "Product of USA" label.
OT, when you claim that NCBA controls the Beef Checkoff, please furnish number of NCBA members contrasted with number of other catle organizations representatives on the Cattlemens' Beef Board.
In SD and in many other states, there are representatives of all statewide cattle organizations on the state and the national Beef Checkoff boards.
The fact that NCBA does contractual work for the Beef Checkoff does not give them any control over those projects. The projects are determined and awarded by CBB board members, NOT by the NCBA members board.
That some cattle producers, myself included, believe that it serves us best to be using our precious few available Beef Checkoff dollars advertising ALL beef without differentiating country of origin does not make us wrong.
We know that only about 3% of beef sold in retail stores is imported and advertising USA beef would cost more than is justified, IMO. Not to mention losing the millions contributed by importers to the Beef Checkoff if that were done. There are better returns on other Checkoff projects, given that the goal is selling more beef.
One of few reasons to advertise US beef, IMO, would be if there was difficulty getting consumers to buy it. There isn't!
Under COOL, there will be something like 30 percent of all beef (and a whopping 3% of imported) labelled with country of origin in the major national chain grocery stores affected by the law. Think about it......30 PERCENT of ALL beef sold in the USA goes through retail stores! We do not need an ADDITIONAL expensive advertising campaign, since we already target retail stores with some specialized advertising, but most of it is in magazines and newspapers which reach more people for less money.
mrj