Tag Archives: herb tarlek

Have your people call mine: Let’s Do Lunch, Inc. dba integrated food service voluntary expands recall

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Let’s Do Lunch, Inc., dba Integrated Food Service (IFS), is expanding the scope of their June 19, 2016, voluntarily recall of certain ready-to-eat sandwiches because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported to date.

WKRP- Herb's jacketThe recall is being conducted in response to additional environmental testing following the initial investigation. There were no positive findings in any food products or on food contact surfaces. IFS initiated a thorough cleaning and disinfection process, followed by extensive testing, and also has engaged outside food safety experts to review the company’s processes and policies. The company is working closely with FDA officials and has voluntarily expanded the recall to include products produced between 5/18/16 and 6/16/16. The products were distributed to foodservice distributors in eight States. No retail products are affected by this recall.

The schools and foodservice distributors were located in the following states: CA, MI, NC, NM, OH, PA, TX, VA, WA. On the IFS website, customers will find a list of school districts that received the products being recalled. The list will be updated daily as further information becomes available.

Hate is a strong word, especially for thermometers

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There’s a 10-minute segment of Gordon Ramsey determining food is appropriately cooked by color and fingers (although some of the pieces were so ridiculously raw even I could have fingered the meat and concluded it was raw).

After the chef-wannabes repeatedly fail to meet expectations of their daddy, one chef decides to use a thermometer to make sure she gets it right.

“A thermometer. The day we need that to cook a breast of chicken — you, get out.”

I have no idea why people watch this crap, although we all have our own crap, and as master salesmen Herb Tarlek said decades ago, tacky sells. Thanks to my military friend for sending it along.

Sick sells; gross ads disgust consumers into action

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Science is only now catching up with the late 1970s wisdom of Herbert “Herb” Ruggles Tarlek, Jr.

During one episode, Herb, the outrageously dressed salesthingy on the awesome television series, WKRP in Cincinnati, proclaims that tasteless sells. That’s why he’s so good at advertising.

USA Today reports a five-year study to be released Tuesday by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business found that, again and again, advertisements that try to simply "scare" consumers into actions — such as buying protective sunscreens or avoiding dangerous drugs — are far less effective than ads that also "disgust" consumers into taking the action. The best way to elicit disgust: Display totally gross images (see our infosheets).

"If you really want to get people to act, disgust is much more powerful than fear," says Andrea Morales, an associate marketing professor at Arizona State University who oversaw the study to be published in the June issue of the Journal of Marketing Research. "It may seem counterintuitive, but it works."

Perhaps that’s why consumers have seen a recent slew of commercials with high gross-out factors.

A TV spot from the New York City Department of Health featured images of a soft drink turning into gobs of fat as a guy gulps it down. (Department officials say sugar-rich beverage consumption dropped 12% after the campaign.) A recent Febreze TV spot shows blindfolded volunteers sitting in an ultra-filthy room — but fooled into thinking that they smell something pleasant, thanks to the household odor killer. And a commercial for Colgate Total toothpaste shows a mouthful of icky-looking germs.

From 2006 to 2011, Morales and her colleagues oversaw five different studies. In each case, ads with the highest gross-out factor elicited far more cases of viewer willingness to take action than those without.

In one study, 155 undergraduate students viewed an anti-methamphetamine print ad showing a young man whose face is covered with open sores. It scored far more consumer interest than an ad with the same written copy, but which replaced the photo of the pock-marked young man with one of a coffin.

While consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow agrees with the premise — disgust attracts attention — she’s not sure it always works. "Disgust is a hard-wired self-preservation emotion designed to keep us from doing things like eating spoiled food," she says. But, she asks, "Will our protective reaction against assaults of any kind cause us to avoid paying any attention to the ad?"

US Ag Secretary tries to temp a hamburger

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Who demonstrates temping a hamburger with oversized novelty thermometers, indoors, with the hamburger patty already encased with all the condiments and a bun?

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

That’s Vilsack, below, in a picture the USDA communication types decided to twitter with the tweet, “Which burger is a safe 165F? Sec Vilsack tests the temp w/ a food therm on #USDAFSDZ, Dr. Hagen watches.”

I want to see Sec. Vilsack temping hamburger patties at a grill, using tongs and a real tip-sensitive, digital thermometer, wearing a kiss-the-cook apron and a Herb-Tarlek grin.

Or a Mr. Bubble shirt.