Dive Brief:
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A potential U.S. ban on the popular social media platform TikTok could hamper a multi-million dollar effort by the meat and dairy industries to push their products onto younger audiences.
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Farm checkoff groups have poured millions of dollars into short, punchy videos promoting the mood-boosting effects of pork or the recovery benefits of drinking chocolate milk after a long run. The videos are a key pillar of industry efforts to improve perceptions of meat and dairy among Gen Z.
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As more farm groups begin to wade into TikTok to boost advertising, any potential promotional benefits could be lost amid a looming ban on the platform. Congress passed a law in April requiring China-based owner ByteDance to sell TikTok within the year if the company wants to avoid a nationwide ban.
Dive Insight:
Food and agriculture are just a few of the industries using the social media platform to advance their goals and messaging. While Boomers and Gen-X remain core customers, groups such as the Pork Checkoff and Milk Processor Education Program are spending millions of dollars targeting younger audiences to drive demand and enhance sales.
Bill Even, chief executive officer of the National Pork Board, which runs the Pork Checkoff, said in a recent Youtube video that his organization has set aside $18 million toward nutrition education and sales enhancement efforts through TikTok and other channels.
“We must bring the younger, multicultural generations into the pork category,” Even said. Research shows pork could be a protein of the past without corrective action, according to the Pork Checkoff.
MilkPEP, funded by U.S. milk companies, has also invested heavily to get more people on board with the beverage as sales deteriorate. The organization is targeting women-led running groups and gamers that play Fortnite to build hype with #gonnaneedmilk.
However, these efforts have not come without pushback. While some TikTok users are on board with the messaging, some are chalking it up as a form of industry-driven propaganda.
As checkoff programs and small businesses leverage TikTok to share recipes and day-in-the-life content to grow consumer awareness and sales, the reach of those campaigns may be constrained with a potential ban on the platform.
In addition to checkoff groups, other agricultural companies are leaning into social media to build hype around farming. Last month, Deere & Co. hired its first chief tractor officer to travel around the U.S. filming short videos that make farm equipment more relatable to younger audiences.
According to a study conducted by Oxford Economics in collaboration with TikTok, the platform contributed a total of $24.2 billion to gross domestic product last year, supporting 224,000 jobs and $5.3 billion in taxes to the U.S. government.