A&W now advertising - now eggs from chickens feed vegetarian feed...

[farmgal71]

I guess it worked for a & w on hammering on beef....now they are running tv ads saying their eggs are better.

http://awguarantee.ca/en/

[grassfarmer]

Good for them - guaranteeing they are raised in Canada and have had a diet with no animal byproducts in it. Positive marketing - what's the problem with that?

[kato]

Does anyone even feed animal byproducts to chickens?

[grassfarmer]

I guess so - from Chicken Farmers of Canada "….animal by-products, which are often added to feed as a protein source."

[grassfarmer]

Not sure of the science here but if blood meal from a beef plant was used as a protein source for chicken feed, then feather meal was used in cattle rations wouldn't that seem rather a silly risk to take with BSE/prions etc?
The cheap penny pinching of the industrialized ag system all to make an extra $.
I can see why informed consumers would prefer to stick with non-animal product feeds.

[rkaiser]

Have you ever noticed the & symbol looks like a guy dragging his butt in the grass.....

Go Natural..... Whoop Whoop

[grassfarmer]

Can't say I'd ever noticed that Randy - did you write the "Far Side" cartoons?

[kato]

Ha ha! Better to write them than be a topic. Those were my all time favourite cartoons.

Now that I think of it, my chickens don't eat a vegetarian diet... They eat potato bugs, grasshoppers, worms and whatever else is dumb enough to run in front of them. So I guess the bottom line is that in order for you to have vegetarian chickens you need to lock them up in barns where they can never run around and be chickens.

Ironic....

[rkaiser]

To believe in corporate agriculture and chem farming is to be the "far side" topic kato....

Choosing natural is the "near" side in my mind.

Love our yellow eggs and garden scrap bacon ---- coming our way soon...Yummmm

[farmgal71]

Hey Grassfarmer,

Do you think this is positive marketing?
Inferring that all other eggs are bad because only A&W cares enough to make sure they have eggs from chickens feed with vegetarian diet?

Actually preying on the lack of food knowledge by the consumer.

I am still mad at them for bringing in non Canadian produced beef because our beef producers do it poorly.

[grassfarmer]

Absolutely, it's positive marketing for their product.

I think the lack of food knowledge is greater among producers and producer organizations than it is among consumers - and remember the first rule of business - THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!

[15444]

A&W has always been my favourite fast food joint and I have yet to see a reason why it should not be. They are setting the trend for the future, the rest of the burger joints are way behind on that eight ball, although McDonalds might pick up some brownie points on the sustainability side.

Any producer that is anti-A&W is hiding in the closet from reality and the future that is coming. Maybe if it scares them too much, they should cash out now while the going is good.

[soysrus]

they will sell whatever they can by trying to find their niche market. Hormone free beef or vegggy eggs or organic bacon or hydroponic lettuce raised in all natural goat piss means nothing to them but a means to differentiate and gain market share.A very disperate company.

[grassfarmer]

Wow, no wonder producers struggle in commodity agriculture - if they don't have a clue what a business is.

[CowgirlJamie]

I was upset with A & W approach to their marketing campaign as it relates to beef. However, I am less concerned about how they are talking about eggs (and not only just because I am a beef producer).
The reason is this – I read a post written by Egg Farmers of Canada (see link below). And they admit that some chickens are fed “small amounts” of animal by-products in their diet. I do think that is wrong.

http://www.eggfarmers.ca/2014/09/feeding-hens-to-keep-them-healthy-and-productive/