• by Sarah Mahoney , 2 hours ago

Johnsonville has jumped back into electoral politics, this time asking people to vote for something sensible: affordable protein for dinner. The humorous campaign targets viewer fatigue, as record spending on political ads threatens to drain the fun out of every last game, sitcom and streaming pleasure.

This time, the company is throwing its hat in the ring for Dinner 2026. Backed by research it conducted with Harris Polls,Johnsonville has learned  Americans are already overwhelmed by both politics and meal planning. Sausage is running the dinner race on a core promise to simplify dinner decisions, the company says. 

The campaign is rolling out in some of the country's most politically overserved ad markets, including Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Raleigh, Cincinnati, and Houston. But the onslaught will be felt everywhere. Political ad spending is projected to hit roughly $11.6 billion this year, according to AdImpact, surpassing the spending in 2024’s presidential cycle.

About 75% of the consumers surveyed hate political ads, says Jamie Schmelzer, vice president of marketing at Johnsonville, in an email to Marketing Daily. “And an overwhelming 84% said their communities could make better use of the billions of dollars being spent on political ads.”

This year, Johnsonville’s election ads take a philanthropic twist. Instead of asking for a campaign donation, as so many political ads do, it is asking people to give to Hunger Free America. The company is pledging $100,000 to the nonprofit to combat food insecurity.

And while plenty of politicians are wielding the high cost of groceries and growing problem of hunger as the meat-and-potatoes of their messaging, “we don't think we are saying anything partisan,” Schmelzer says. “If someone's political position is pro-hunger or pro-food insecurity, we will just have to agree to disagree.”

Besides, he points out, Johnsonville has earned its place at the protein-affordability debate table: “Our data says 68% of Americans agree sausage is a great way to feed a crowd without breaking the bank. We'd like to see that number go even higher.”

The idea behind the campaign, besides having a little fun at the expense of the endless PAC-and-candidate backed messages, is that people just forget about sausage, especially outside of grilling season. “One of the main reasons people don't eat sausage for dinner more often is they forget it is one of their options,” Schmelzer says. And while that’s always been true, one out of three respondents say, “they have gotten so distracted by current events in the past year they forgot to come up with an idea for dinner at least once.”

The new ads also give a nice seasonal hook to a permanent problem: More than half -- 53% -- of people hate having to come up with an idea for dinner and wish someone else would make a suggestion.

“Sausage has a strong record,” he says. “It’s delicious, versatile and a great value for feeding family, friends and neighbors. Americans have enough decisions to make.”