Would You Rather be “Weird” Al or George Harrison?

Food safety communication has become a hot topic across the industry, but who would have thought that a key message about keeping restaurant doggie bag food safe would come from “Weird” Al Yankovic? The album which features his song, Foil was #1 on the pop charts in July—selling 105,000 copies in a week. Foil is a parody of Royals by Lorde.

Whether his solution of wrapping the leftover sandwich in foil is the best alternative may be in question. But since his song also recommends that you “Stick it in your cooler,” we have to see it as a positive message, particularly with the YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0TEJMJOhk) showing such unappetizing photos of the “fungal rot, bacterial formation, microbes, enzymes, mold, and oxidation” that can result from not keeping food safe.

Interestingly, however, “Weird” Al is not the first top artist to sing about microbes. From my (albeit limited) research, that honor would be taken by George Harrison who composed an instrumental called Microbes in 1968. The song, written for the movie Wonderwall, has the sad, forlorn sound of a shehnai (an oboe of North India). However, with no words and written for a movie that has little to do with food science, except that it is about a reclusive scientist, it can’t be said to communicate much about microbes in food ... and, undoubtedly was never intended to.

That said, the two songs provide a great analogy for our communication efforts on both food safety as well as the often controversial or misunderstood technologies that industry uses to enhance food safety, quality, or production (as discussed in Feeding the Future, page 39, and Good News. Bad News., page 58.). Using the songs as a basis, ask yourself:

Are my company’s communications like Foil? Am I being open and transparent, contributing to consumers’ understanding of food safety and food production, even if it is in a humorous, limited way? In speaking on communication at IFT Wellness 2014, Trevor Butterworth, editor-at-large of Stats.org, said, if you can’t figure out how to talk about what you do, hire a couple comedians to come in and brainstorm with you. Unique, out-of-the-box ideas and efforts can create greater interest, and are remembered longer and requoted more often than one more Do/Do Not list.
 

Or ... Are my company’s communications more like Microbes? The title is great and sets an expectation of science to be revealed. But it never quite gets there. What Harrison’s intent was with the song is likely revealed only through its interaction with the movie. Are your communications—and production processes—as ambiguous ... with plenty of sad sound but no real words?

It’s something to think about.