'Feed the man meat': Gendered food and theories of consumption

Abstract

In the mid-1980s the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation (AMLC) attempted to redress the accelerating loss of market share as demand for red meats (beef and lamb) declined in the face of increased consumption of chicken and pork. 1 The centrepiece of the campaign was a television advertisement which featured a young boy, clad in the jersey of a well-known football club, running home with his dog through an inner city working class area, for dinner. The boy arrives home in time to join his sister and father (who is reading a newspaper) at the kitchen table, just as his mother removes a large sizzling leg of roast meat from the oven. Through the entire advertisement there runs an upbeat soundtrack and a catchy jingle proclaiming 'feed the man meat'.