Cattle Industry Goes Grassroots to Inspire College Kids.

Sensing a declining interest in meat, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has launched a new program aimed at recruiting college kids to start a grassroots pro-meat movement by certifying them as “Master’s of Beef Advocacy.”

By signing up for a brief online 6-hour class, college kids become a “Master of Beef Advocacy” or “MBA.” The similarity to the more well-known Master of Business MBA is intentional. The MBA teaches participants about the “positive” side of meat with their course titled “Meet Your Meat.” Again, completely unoriginal and meant to steal the name of the classic PETA animal rights video with the same name.

The course pumps kids up to be pro-meat advocates. They learn to campaign on the streets by passing out fliers and talking to the public. The outreach model is taken from the animal rights movement and groups like Vegan Outreach who canvass college campuses all over the country with their “Why Vegan?” guides.

Director of Mercy For Animals, Nathan Runkle, calls it like it is saying the Cattlemen’s MBA really stands for “Masters of BS.”

This is a clear attempt to copy the grassroots success of the animal rights movement. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery so instead of being extremely annoyed we should be extremely flattered that we pioneered a winning strategy for campaigning. Although, I highly doubt college kids will be as inspired to campaign for meat like they do important social causes like animals rights.