TWO BEEF ASSOCIATIONS RUN ADS TO DEFUSE 'MAD COW' PUBLICITY

WASHINGTON -- Two beef industry associations ran ads in national newspapers earlier this month, to help offset the flurry of publicity surrounding "mad cow" disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

is part of an ad program we launched about four years ago focusing on image of cattlemen what they do to provide a safe and wholesome product," she said. "We consistently run them in the Washington Post, the national edition of the New York Times, and the [Washington] D.C. edition of the Wall Street Journal, but this one did run in USA Today and the national edition of the Wall Street Journal."

Under the headline "There are over a million reasons why Americans can trust American beef," the NCBA ad featured Connie Greig, chairperson of the association's Animal Health Committee, the first woman ever to be featured in these ads, according to Harrison.

An ad sponsored by the American Meat Institute appeared during the same time period. This one featured Mary Alice McKenzie, president of a meat company in Burlington, Vt., with the headline "At home I have several kids to feed. At work, several million."