Can hot dogs, those perennial summer barbecue taste treats, actually be good for you? ConAgra Foods would have you believe so, in new ads for its Hebrew National brand of kosher dogs. A new national
TV effort launching this week proclaims that Hebrew National beef hot dogs are more nutritious than frankfurters sold by its competitors. One 30-second spot shows a cow beneath the slogan, "No Ifs,
Ands or Butts," a reference to its assurance that its kosher dogs, prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary law, contain nothing from the rear portion of the bovine anatomy. The ad ends with the
brand's decades-old motto: "Hebrew National. We Answer to a Higher Authority." ConAgra is hoping that consumers will associate its kosher status as an affirmation of the product's purity relative to
other hot dogs, which are often pieced together from low-quality pork, beef, chicken or turkey. Not surprisingly, at least one competitor questions the credibility of the claim. "There's nothing
fundamentally different in the range of nutritional values between an all-beef kosher hot dog, and an all-beef nonkosher hot dog," said Jon Harris, a spokesman for Sara Lee, maker of Best's Kosher and
Ball Park brands.
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