Burger King’s new ad is blowing up in the ag community — and not in a good way

Burger King claims that its new ad, which has now been posted across its social media networks, is an effort to improve the environmental impact of beef. What it does is make beef production as we know it today to be a villain — all to the tune of a cutesy, colorful video that talks about “cow farts” and methane release. What Burger King doesn’t tell you is that farmers and ranchers have already long been improving per-unit methane emissions from livestock, which has been in marked decline since 1990, while livestock producers have also increased productivity.
But that would clash with BK trying to show that it’s wanting to be “squeaky clean” — even as its young cowboy-clad guitarist begins the video coming out of the hindquarters of a cow:

https://youtu.be/x6xDv8RX87A

Some companies simply never learn when it comes to using children to bash a competing product or to deceptively market a concept. The tactic backfired spectacularly two years ago when Stonyfield tried it, causing the food company to expend countless resources doing online damage control. In its ad, Burger King’s central point is to say that it will change its cattle’s diet by adding lemongrass to reduce their emissions by approximately 33 percent. But, after Ermias Kebreab, an Associate Dean at the University of California-Davis, came onto Twitter to cast doubt on the fast-food giant’s ad, people were really left scratching their heads as to why BK would pull the trigger on this campaign. Overall, while reducing emissions is a great thing (of course!), the fact that the video ad makes current agricultural practices sound sinister is what has agitated many in the ag community...MORE