A living advertising legend passes into history
If you're too young to have watched a tv commercial by Frank Perdue, you've missed one of the most courageous men in advertising.
Perdue was wimpy skinny -- not svelte skinny, had a face like chicken with the eyes and nose to match and pitched his company's poultry in a high squeaky voice on the nation's airwaves from coast-to-coast.
The tagline that accompanied the advertising for Perdue chickens was "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." In his long white lab coat, his white hardhat and his squeaky voice, Perdue couldn't have looked less like a tough man and more out of place than former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis did in an army tank.
I remember pretty clearly in my mind's eye the ad that put his company into the national spotlight. He came on the air looking like a dweeb and acting tough and talked about this V-shaped plastic gizmo he held in his hands. His complaint was that his company has thousands of the devices, breast gauges used by the inspectors to grade the breast sizes of hens. The breast gauges, he explained, were too small the measure the breasts of his chickens. And he told the audience his problem was that he didn't know what to do with all those breast gauges other than give them to his competitors.
I roared with laughter when I saw that commercial and I know I'm not the only one. I remember reading an article sometime later where thousands of people, mostly young men but some women as well, had written to Perdue Farms requesting their own personal breast gauge.
If you were one of the lucky ones to have received a chicken breast gauge from Frank Perdue, treasure it. Many people would have told Perdue that he wasn't broadcast material, that he should hire models or actors. Reports the Associated Press:
I don't know what Frank Perdue was like in person; I never met the man. But I know he went in the face of what people thought and turned his father's egg farm into a nearly $3 billion business and employed thousands of people, not only at his processing plant but at the chicken farms that supplied it with product.
Many folk I've met in my life are stymied by their fears of what their contemporaries would think of them if they stepped out of the anticipated and did the unexpected. No one likes to have their ideas laughed at, but it's a fact of life people ridicule things they don't understand. And if it's a new idea, of course they're going to laugh. You're the only who understands it. If they could understand it, they would have thought of it and it would be their idea.
But if you can have enough courage to believe in yourself and your ideas, who knows what you can accomplish? Frank Perdue is just one in a long line of dweebs the world has produced who are telling you you CAN if you can face your fears.
Perdue, 84, died yesterday after a short illness.
In a clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that's laid him down
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame:
"I am leaving! I am leaving!"
But the fighter still remains.
The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel
The tagline that accompanied the advertising for Perdue chickens was "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." In his long white lab coat, his white hardhat and his squeaky voice, Perdue couldn't have looked less like a tough man and more out of place than former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis did in an army tank.
I remember pretty clearly in my mind's eye the ad that put his company into the national spotlight. He came on the air looking like a dweeb and acting tough and talked about this V-shaped plastic gizmo he held in his hands. His complaint was that his company has thousands of the devices, breast gauges used by the inspectors to grade the breast sizes of hens. The breast gauges, he explained, were too small the measure the breasts of his chickens. And he told the audience his problem was that he didn't know what to do with all those breast gauges other than give them to his competitors.
I roared with laughter when I saw that commercial and I know I'm not the only one. I remember reading an article sometime later where thousands of people, mostly young men but some women as well, had written to Perdue Farms requesting their own personal breast gauge.
If you were one of the lucky ones to have received a chicken breast gauge from Frank Perdue, treasure it. Many people would have told Perdue that he wasn't broadcast material, that he should hire models or actors. Reports the Associated Press:
Perdue, whose prominent nose, small dark eyes, thin lips and high-pitched voice gave him the impression of a chicken, said he was initially uncertain about whether to take to the airwaves.
He said a New York ad man persuaded him to run his own commercials, but also gave Perdue a warning. "He said, 'If you do this, you're going to have some heartaches from it. You're going to have people yelling at you or maybe screaming at you or criticizing you, but I think it's the best way to sell a superior chicken, which I think you have,'" Perdue said in a 1991 interview with The Associated Press. "
It was quite a shock to my nervous system because I'd never been in a school play or anything and I'm basically reticent about speaking in public," said Perdue, who ultimately did 156 different ads.
I don't know what Frank Perdue was like in person; I never met the man. But I know he went in the face of what people thought and turned his father's egg farm into a nearly $3 billion business and employed thousands of people, not only at his processing plant but at the chicken farms that supplied it with product.
Many folk I've met in my life are stymied by their fears of what their contemporaries would think of them if they stepped out of the anticipated and did the unexpected. No one likes to have their ideas laughed at, but it's a fact of life people ridicule things they don't understand. And if it's a new idea, of course they're going to laugh. You're the only who understands it. If they could understand it, they would have thought of it and it would be their idea.
But if you can have enough courage to believe in yourself and your ideas, who knows what you can accomplish? Frank Perdue is just one in a long line of dweebs the world has produced who are telling you you CAN if you can face your fears.
Perdue, 84, died yesterday after a short illness.
In a clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that's laid him down
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame:
"I am leaving! I am leaving!"
But the fighter still remains.
The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel
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Porn spam Easter egg of the day:
Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.
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Happy Birthday to Rocky, Skitz and their 11 brothers and sisters wherever they are. Thank you Ilsa for this wonderful gift you left me. I miss you dearly. We'll go to the lakes and play tug again, I promise.
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I have updated my post "Here's my report on clo*(*($@#$%^@#."
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Happy Birthday to Rocky, Skitz and their 11 brothers and sisters wherever they are. Thank you Ilsa for this wonderful gift you left me. I miss you dearly. We'll go to the lakes and play tug again, I promise.
posted by NEWS4A2, blood-sucking journalist @ 12:45
1 comments
1 Comments:
Thank you very much for those kind comments. Please tell your friends about The 6th Estate!
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