AFTER READING THE WIENERSCHNITZEL CASE STUDY, WE KNEW WE HAD TO INVESTIGATE THREE MISCONCEPTIONS:
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01:
LEFTOVERS
Hot dogs are made of leftover meats. Hot dogs are unhealthy. Hot dogs are the most basic food.
WHAT PEOPLE THINK HOT DOGS ARE MADE OF According to a 2018 survey by meat giant Hormel’s Applegate division, 43% of people are too scared to know what is in a hot dog. [03] When we took to the streets to talk to real humans about what hot dogs are made out of, they all had preconceived ideas.
So, we split into three groups and conducted secondary and primary research to analyze each misconception, beginning with leftovers.
“WHAT DO I THINK OF WHEN I HEAR THE WORD HOT DOG? EASY, LIPS AND A**HOLES!”
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Survey respondents
379
Articles researched
112
Hot dog varieties analyzed
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DOUBTING THE DOG
— Peter, 57 Though intrigued, we thought nothing of it, until the same three words were repeated throughout the day: Lips and a**holes. After some digging, we discovered the 1988 film, The Great Outdoors, where Dan Aykroyd teases John Candy at a barbeque saying, “Hot dogs! You know what they make those things out of, Chet? Lips and a**holes!”[04] That film, along with a slew of online media, specifically the How It’s Made: Hot Dogs video from 2012 that went viral, [05] provided us a few of the origins of the hot dog Mandela Effect. But we weren’t done digging yet.
Interviews
Due to consumer claims about ingredients, we decided to investigate what hot dogs are really made out of. Since this campaign needs to promote the entire hot dog industry, we needed to know what claims we could make about all hot dogs, not just Wienerschnitzel’s. After reviewing the USDA Hot Dogs and Food Safety regulations, [06] we found two major things: 1.
Hot dogs labeled as beef or pork franks must be 100% beef or pork.
2.
Byproducts, if used, must be clearly labeled on the package.
The byproducts the USDA listed (heart, kidney, liver) included organ meats, but none of the lips, a**holes, bones, feet, or other urban legends we heard from our research participants. What’s more, an article by Rifinery29, We Did A Deep Dive Into Hot Dog Ingredients & Here’s What We Learned states that hot dogs, especially ones that are store-bought, do not contain anything close to organs.[07] So we visited 7 stores and analyzed 112 different varieties of hot dogs and couldn’t find one single byproduct or organ meat listed in the ingredients.
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TAKEAWAY
Perception mappings
Juicy rumors about hot dogs are stuck in people’s heads.
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SOLUTION
Store visit
Show how these rumors are fake news and set the record straight.
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Taste test video journals [03]
RESEARCH
[04] [05]
Huffpost.com, Whats In Hot Dogs, 2018 IMDB.com, The Great Outdoors, 1988 Youtube.com, How Its Made – Hot Dogs, 2012
[06] [07]
Fsis.Usda.gov, Hot Dogs And Food Safety, 2013 Refinery29.com, What Are Hot Dogs Actually Made Of, 2017
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