Weekend worries
Ramblings 2

Answers for the chicken man

Would you meat eaters care to participate in some seat-of-the-pants research that isn’t projectable past the town square of Tuscaloosa? Well, great! Here’s the deal:

I have a client who is a chicken man. He raises and processes chicken and sells it through various grocery chains. If you’d answer a few questions, you’d help me figure out what to say about this product. Here goes.

Product Description: This chicken is raised on Amish farms in sunny, cage-free barns. It meets the highest Halal standards; Halal is the Muslim word for healthy food raised and processed in a humane way. The birds are fed all-grain diets, with no preservatives, artificial ingredients, hormones or coloring agents added. Because they can move around freely, they develop more muscle and less fat, resulting in tasty, healthy meat for you and your family.

So here are the questions; just list the numbers/letters in your comments:

1. Choose the 4 phrases that mean the most to you:

A. Cage-free

B. Natural

C. Healthy

D. Organic

E. Halal

F. Fresh

G. No trans fats

H. No preservatives

I. No artificial ingredients

J. No hormones added

K. Costs more

L. Muslim

M.  Amish

N. Humane

O. Tastes good

2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you.

3. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative.

4. Can you tell me why you made your “negative” choice(s).

5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker?

6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe.

Many thanks from the back nine. You’re helping save my butt on this one.

 

By: Linda | 02/02/07 | | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

17 Responses to “Answers for the chicken man” »»

  1. lisa-marie
    Comment by lisa-marie | 02/02/07 at 1:44 pm

    1. Choose the 4 phrases that mean the most to you:
    C. Healthy
    H. No preservatives
    I. No artificial ingredients
    J. No hormones added

    2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you.
    I. No artificial ingredients

    3. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative.
    K. Costs more

    4. Can you tell me why you made your “negative” choice(s).
    I’m on a pretty tight budget and natural/organic/healthy foods cost more money.

    5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker?
    No. My health is really important to me, and I can cut out something unnecessary in order to have healthy foods.

    6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe.
    Just want to say hi, and I’m happy to help you out!!

  2. katie
    Comment by katie | 02/02/07 at 1:52 pm

    1. cage-free, humane, organic, no artificial ingredients
    2. humane
    3. costs more
    4. same reason: i don’t have a lot of money. i cut it close every month.
    5. not necessarily. if it was marginally more i would buy that instead. if it was double the price, though i’m sure it’s worth it, i couldn’t afford it.
    6. fun! i love surveys. your blog is great.

  3. Emily
    Comment by Emily | 02/02/07 at 2:01 pm

    1. C, H, I, J

    2. C

    3. K

    4. I just can’t seem to find anything bad to say about any of the others, really.

    5. Definitely not. Even though I’ve been known to stop for fast food on the odd (or not so odd) occasion that I’m broke, I’d be more likely to splurge on healthy food. Take that with a grain of salt, though, because I also am a smoker — damn addiction. I guess I figure I can only make one smart choice at a time, or something.

    6. Just wondering — is there a huge demand for halal meat in the U.S.? Or is this something he’s selling internationally? Because I know I’d never heard of halal till I actually went to the middle east, but then again, maybe that’s just me being culturally ignorant.

  4. Kirsten
    Comment by Kirsten | 02/02/07 at 2:13 pm

    1. Choose the 4 phrases that mean the most to you:

    A. Cage-free
    (the thought of those poor birds being stuck in cages really messes with my head)
    D. Organic
    (healthier, tastes better)
    J. No hormones added
    (because my boobs are big enough, thankyouverymuch)
    N. Humane
    (goes along with the first one)

    2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you.
    I’m gonna say Humane because it ties in two of my previous answers

    3. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative.
    Of course it’s “costs more”

    4. Can you tell me why you made your “negative” choice(s).
    Because I have a hard enough time paying bills without my chicken costing more than my utilities

    5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker?
    Honestly, it depends on how MUCH more it is…if it’s a few bucks, then I’d say definately not – but like others have said, if it’s double – then fugetaboutit

    6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe.
    Just that I really enjoy reading your blog – you seem like someone I would love to have coffee with…down to earth and hysterical to boot :)

  5. Julie
    Comment by Julie | 02/02/07 at 2:35 pm

    1. A, J, N, O
    2. A
    3. K
    4. I’m cheap and sometimes broke.
    5. No.
    6. Love ya, mean it!

  6. leahtg
    Comment by leahtg | 02/02/07 at 2:38 pm

    1. cage-free, humane, fresh, tastes good
    2. cage-free, can’t stand the thought of the little birds living their short lives inside a wire cage
    3. costs more
    4. If it’s not double or more it’s probably not problem but I don’t want to feel ripped off
    5. If it tastes good and the little chickens had a happy life before my hunger ended it I would be willing to pay more.
    6. At a farmers market in England I could never resist buying the eggs from the farmer who brought pictures of his free range chickens roaming the country-side and drinking from a stream. It was nice to see such happy birds in such an idealistic environment.

    Fun!

  7. Laura
    Comment by Laura | 02/02/07 at 2:39 pm

    Ok Linda, I’m lazy, but I would answer EXACTLY the same way Lisa-Marie would.

  8. Sundry
    Comment by Sundry | 02/02/07 at 2:57 pm

    1: Organic, Cage-free, Natural, No hormones

    2. Organic, probably, because I’m a sucker for that buzzword (“Why, that must mean it’s totally good for me! I’ll start with this slab of organic chocolate”).

    3. The only thing that might put me off is “Halal” or “Muslim” — not because I have anything against Muslims! but because I wouldn’t know what it meant or how that made the chicken different (maybe it means air-curing the chicken in a sauna for five hours?). If there was a little blurb on the packaging that explained the Halal standards, that would instantly turn it into a positive.

    4. I don’t know if it would be a deal breaker…maybe, if there was another easy choice nearby.

    Go Bears! Or something.

  9. Pete
    Comment by Pete | 02/02/07 at 3:43 pm

    I might not be your target demographic since I buy my skinless chicken breast frozen in a bag from Costco but I’ll try….
    1. In the context of chicken none of the phrases have any real meanings to me. One that would be close is ‘Tastes Good’ but is it ‘Tastes Good’ as in ‘Crème Brule’ or “Tastes just like chicken”? I like ‘Amish’ but more because I relate that to ‘Witness’ and Kelly McGillis washing herself.
    2. Of those two the ‘clean’ winner would be ‘Amish’
    3. That would be Muslim
    4. I see chickens blowing themselves up in the barn yard.
    5. No.
    6. I guess your asking is what would it take for me to pick your client’s chicken out of the meat section vs. Tyson, Fosters, etc.? Unless it makes me laugh (all natural breasts with a chicken in a bra, or including the chicken claws for tooth picks) I pretty much ignore what is written on the package. I would pick his if it included several recipes on how to cook the bird which would bring out the difference between his free range hippie chicken and the corporate cubical chicken.
    Good luck with the client. Try dressing plain ;-)

  10. Barry
    Comment by Barry | 02/02/07 at 4:51 pm

    1. Choose the 4 phrases that mean the most to you:

    B. Natural
    D. Organic
    J. No hormones added
    N. Humane

    2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you.
    D. Organic

    3. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative.
    G. No trans fats – (because it’s phony)

    4. Can you tell me why you made your “negative” choice(s).
    Saying something that is obvious is foolish and insulting – like the word “hypoallergenic” doesn’t mean anything so any product can make that claim.

    5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker?
    would make me think about the credibility

    6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe.
    I think use of the word Amish is folly – because they wouldn’t allow their name to be used in a commercial enterprise. I have a basic understanding of Kosher – so feel good about that. No real understanding of Halal – so have no real sense of it.

  11. Amy
    Comment by Amy | 02/02/07 at 7:24 pm

    1. Choose the 4 phrases that mean the most to you:
    B. Natural
    F. Fresh
    H. No preservatives
    J. No hormones added

    2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you.
    F. Fresh

    3 & 4. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative.
    L,E,M because I wouldn’t know what that meant about the chicken. G because I’m pretty sure trans fats don’t apply here.

    5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker?
    The L,E,M are.

    6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe.
    Let us know how it turns out.

  12. Lesley
    Comment by Lesley | 02/02/07 at 10:04 pm

    1. A, D, J, N (though presumably “organic” means no hormones in the feed)

    2. Halal (have to choose this word since it seems to sum up the above 4; however I didn’t know this word before reading your post.

    3. Costs more. (Though it may be true financially, I don’t see the point since there’s a cost to the body in not supplying it with nutritional food.)

    4. Might be, but people who choose factory farmed meat for price (when they’re driving SUVs) can get cancer for all I care.

    Comments: As a fussy consumer who purchases lots of organic produce and organically produced chicken and turkey, I think it’s important to convey the fact that the animals live in a free-range environment and are fed organic grain. It is probably also useful to indicate certification, although we’re finding out now that not all foods certified organic are grown organically.

  13. b.
    Comment by b. | 02/03/07 at 7:59 pm

    For everyone who is wondering, “halal” refers to how slaughtering takes place — in Islam there are specific rules for how an animal should be slaughtered. In addition, it also refers to the animal’s lifestyle before slaughter — for meat to be halal, the animal should’ve only been fed natural ingredients (no chemicals, nothing it would’ve eaten naturally; i.e., cows being fed ground-up cattle), have lived what might best described as a happy animal life, et cetera.

    Emily — I don’t know how huge the demand is for halal meat. But there are approximately 5-7 million Muslims in the US, and while not everyone observes halal, many do and, if halal meat was readily available, more would. I live in a very small town, but there is a sizable community of Muslims here. Currently, to get halal meat, someone has to travel to Chicago or Detroit to get the meat and resell it here, or a group of families will all go in together and head down to the local Amish farmer (because they raise their animals the old-fashioned way), buy a cow (for example), and divide the meat up between everyone. Either way, it’s expensive and meat isn’t always available. Still, we are fairly lucky because we live near major metropolitan areas. Muslims who live in isolated areas aren’t as able to find halal meat. Some buy what’s at the supermarket; others go vegetarian.

    1. E, J, N, A
    2. E – halal. As a Muslim, this is very important to me. To obtain halal meat, I am already paying more than the average consumer (and as a result, we have a semi-vegetarian diet), so that it would cost more isn’t a factor. But how does the Chicken Man plan to certify halal? Very few states have regulations in place at the present time, and it isn’t unheard of for meat to be labeled halal when it was anything but. As an additional note, labeling the chicken with “Muslim” is sort of redundant (like saying “it’s Jewish kosher!”). Muslims would recognize that the meat is being marketed towards them with the word “halal”.
    3. G – no trans fat.
    4. I agree with Barry. It’s a bit phony.
    5. Not really. But it’s probably something I’d go home and make jokes about. :)
    6. Is the client really in Tuscaloosa? Like Tuscaloosa, Alabama? I grew up near there. If he’s planning on putting this in the local supermarkets of Tuscaloosa, I wouldn’t advertise its Muslim-ness too strongly. The normal Halal symbol is written in Arabic script and is very stylized so that it’s not immediately recognizable as being Arabic unless you’re already familiar with either it or with Arabic. While I find Southerners to be among some of the most tolerant people in the country, when they have bad apples, THEY HAVE BAD APPLES. So I wouldn’t put a minaret in the background or splash a huge Turkish star and crescent on there, but keep it low-key. Maybe just a chicken in an abaya. (Kidding!) (abaya: those all-encompassing robes popular in the Gulf countries, usually black and worn by women)

  14. Elaine Huang
    Comment by Elaine Huang | 02/05/07 at 10:51 am

    1. A, C, J, N
    2. A
    3. D
    4. Organic has connotations these days that I’m not entirely sure about – the sustainability of that type of farming is something that concerns me, I don’t know how the FDA regulates the use of the word Organic in foods (which I should find out) and more specific to the question, I’m not sure what makes a chicken organic…
    5. No
    6. This is my first posting here, hope it helps out.

  15. Keith
    Comment by Keith | 02/05/07 at 8:30 pm

    1. Cage free, natural, organic, no preservatives

    2. Cage free

    3. Cost more, no trans fat, no hormones added,

    4. If it’s natural and organic they are a given, need not be stated.

    5. Probably not.

    6. Sorry it took so long to get this posted. I’ve been out of town. Hope this helps.

  16. MRW
    Comment by MRW | 02/06/07 at 1:31 pm

    Well, I’m late to the survey but will participate anyway.

    1. organic, cage-free, humane, fresh

    2. organic

    3. Amish?

    4. Really I don’t have any problem with this, but I don’t have a problem with anything else on the list either. I already pay more for organic other things, it seems to be a given and I’ve come to terms with it.

    5. no

    6. nothing else to add other than I already buy organic cage-free chicken and eggs etc, so I’m not the most objective on this.

  17. Michelle P.
    Comment by Michelle P. | 02/13/07 at 12:53 pm

    A. Cage-free – What the heck does this mean? I don’t care if my chicken was caged, boxed, or free as long as it taste good.

    B. Natural – I hope my chicken is natural……

    C. Healthy – This would probably mean the most! I would not want to eat a sick chicken.

    D. Organic –

    E. Halal – Most people probably would not know what this means.

    F. Fresh – This would also mean a great deal.

    G. No trans fats – I know this is healthier, but did not realize it applied to chickens.

    H. No preservatives – This also would mean a great deal.

    I. No artificial ingredients – Also a good thing.

    J. No hormones added – Good thing!

    K. Costs more – no.

    L. Muslim – no

    M. Amish – no

    N. Humane – funny…..and how do they kill the chickens?

    O. Tastes good – if it’s grilled!

    2. Now choose the one phrase from the above that means the most to you. Healty

    3. OK. Using the same list, choose any phrase that is a negative. Cost more

    4. Can you tell me why you made your “negative” choice(s). I look for the cheapest, skinless chicken breast I can find. I don’t want to pay more.

    5. Is the negative strong enough to be a deal breaker? Absolutely

    6. Add anything else you wish. I’ll read it. I won’t laugh at you. Well, maybe. Okay, this is what bugs me when I buy chicken. I don’t like huge pieces of chicken. I like the size we get at the fast food places. When I buy chicken at the grocery store, it’s usually a pack of three breast that are say “DD” size, I’m looking for the “B/C” size. I can feed more people and they’re quicker to cook. My suggestion!

    Many thanks from the back nine. You’re helping save my butt on this one

Leave a Reply »»

Login