10/18/12 3:55 PMAd of the Day: Applegate Farms | Adweek

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M oms—if you're worried the cow that you'll serve thissummer might be a junkie, Applegate Farms is the beeffor you.

So says the purveyor of organic and natural packaged foods in anew campaign, "What's in your hot dog?" created by agency Taxi todrive summer sales ahead of July 4. The central theme of the series:Men in bovine costumes getting grilled, job-interview-style, on theirdrug histories, by mothers concerned about keeping medicated meatoff their kids' plates. In one spot, "Mooscles," a muscle-boundbodybuilder cow vacantly denies using growth hormones while a

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Ad of the Day: Applegate Farms Disturbingman(cows(make(the(case(for(drug$freemeat By(Gabriel(Beltrone

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@gbeltrone

@applegatefarms

@TAXICanada

woman balks at the needle sticking out of what she identifies as his"haunch." In a second, an obsessive-compulsive nerd cow awkwardly savors thethought of his daily antibiotics shot. And inthe third—maybe the funniest—a wastedraver cow barely notices as the front doorslams in his face after he babbles about hislove for pharmaceuticals.

Sure, it's a little weird toanthropomorphize animals bound for thedinner table in ads meant to peddle meat,rather than, say, vegetarianism. But the scripts manage to stayamusing while conveying a clear selling point for the product, andthe acting is on point. Perhaps so much so, that the campaign

doubles as an anti-drug PSA.Kids, consider yourselves warned, too.

Gabriel Beltrone is a staff writer for Adweek.

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Topics: Food & Beverage, Ad of The Day, Applegate Farms, Taxi

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