Since SXSWi 2011 I’ve become aware of counterinsurgencies of varying levels on the Big Ag PR front. A couple of days ago Michael Pollan tweeted:
…Before examining their marketing goals, let’s take a moment to acknowledge this cutely named newly-formed org: “U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA)“. Sounds farmy doesn’t it? Kind of like, “we’re for the farmers? and if you aren’t with us, you aren’t for the farmers.” That is exactly the line of logic their shills will lead with. I’m calling it now. Then they’ll descend into misframing the issues at hand with fearmongering and questions parried with much hype, the most reliable being:
“HOW CAN WE FEED THE WORLD WITH SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE!?”
The swill-selling shills love this one, because it covers all bases. Whether the debate which ensues includes reasonable, sane-person responses such as, “with local and regionally based food systems appropriate to their geographic place,” the hacks and flacks will howl, “wrong! you cannot ‘feed the world’ with local ag!” They have recently begun referring to it as “peasant ag,” in fact. Charming.
And should the debate enjoy more favorable dialogue from fellow Biggies, the tweeting heads will go right ahead and co-opt the word “sustainable”, citing Monsanto, ADM, DuPont, ConAgra and a host of others who since 2007 have been running wild with bastardizations of the term. I canceled my years-long subscription to The Atlantic Monthly over insipid ads such as the one below, which does nothing more than play upon the public’s fears and encourage the lemming-like masses to trust that the big guys have got this food thing covered. Nothing to see here!
It’s with great anticipation I await the Ketchum/Zocalo campaign executions. I hope you’ll follow along with me.
Right out of the starting gate we have this gem of a quotation from the Ketchum head:
“We are honored to have been asked to serve America’s agricultural community for this incredibly important and unprecedented assignment,” said Linda Eatherton, Ketchum Partner and Director of its Global Food & Nutrition Practice. “With over 50 years of service to food and agricultural organizations, our firm was literally built for this assignment. Working side by side with USFRA members, stakeholders and allies, we know we can help people re- think the role of American agriculture in feeding hundreds of millions of Americans every day.”
Note in particular, “RE-THINK” and “the role of AMERICAN AGRICULTURE”…”in feeding HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS” (of Americans) every day. I’m truly surprised they didn’t go for “the world”. Even the world is not enough.
[...] by the newly formed U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance. I wrote about this organization in April here and they are a puppet [...]
Wow, they are tricky. Maybe I’m just naive. Thanks for pointing it out.