Branding Beef: Marketing, Food Safety, and the Governance of Risk

This article situates brand-based marketing within broader processes of risk communication. Over the past few decades, branding has become more pronounced in the Canadian beef industry, due in large part to structural changes that have placed greater emphasis on marketing and promotion as ways of responding to and managing consumer concerns. Government-mandated levies on the sale of livestock provide funds for these initiatives, blurring the line between industry and government support for agricultural commodities. To illustrate, I examine the Alberta beef industry’s branding initiatives prior to and following the BSE-inspired trade ban. These campaigns negotiate messages about risk by enhancing the links between beef consumers and small-scale producers while rendering opaque more complex processes of industrialization and globalization.