Johnsonville, Wisconsin Jamie Schmeltzer is not a mental health professional; he is a marketing executive for the meat processing giant Johnsonville. US Political Situation This has led his company to shift its messaging slightly.
“We’re not pretending that we have the power to save America,” Schmelzer told CBS News. “We know that there are a lot of serious problems in the world that can’t be solved with sausage.”
The company’s new national advertising campaign urges Americans to find common ground by “turning down the temperature.”
“We believe that most people are fundamentally good and should be treated as such,” a narrator says in the new ad campaign. “That means less trolling, more driving distance, less doomscrolling and more dinner parties.”
Schmelzer said the company’s view was that “this campaign is more cultural than political, but we are well aware that the two are inseparable.”
Johnsonville had a hunch the country was on edge, so he did what any politician would do: take a shot at the polls.
The survey found that 8 in 10 Americans feel exhausted by the anger and negativity in the U.S. It also found that many Americans are attending social gatherings less than they used to. Isolation is not good for Johnsonville’s products, Schmelzer said.
“Johnsonville makes hangout food,” Schmelzer explains. “Single-serving sausages are almost nonexistent.”
Johnsonville isn’t the only company preaching calm and unity: ad campaigns for Miller Lite and Lay The Boy make similar attempts to sell less conflict and more relaxation.
“They’re looking at what we think as a society,” said Dr. Andrew Cohen, a cultural sociologist who specializes in advertising. “… This is a great opportunity for these brands to play. You can’t deny the reality that people are outraged, and they’re saying it’s really painful to go to a family barbecue and get into an argument with your uncle over a political difference of opinion.”
CBS News traveled to the battleground states of Georgia and Wisconsin to show the ads to voters and ask them how they view the country.
“Everybody in the country is a little nervous,” said Chris Stubbs of Georgia.
“Everyone’s anxiety and emotions are running high and we just need to stay calm,” Charmaine Williams of Cobb County, Georgia, told CBS News.
These sentiments are consistent with Johnsonville’s research. Recent Warnings US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s speech on the “loneliness epidemic” and the harms of social media.
“It seems like people are too isolated,” said Debbie Reagles of Kenosha, Wisconsin. “Isolation is a bad thing, you know?”
Advertisers hope that bridging and slowing down will be a message that will resonate with an anxious, disunited public.
“This is kind of a pep talk for Americans to remember to make time, take a break and have fun with the people you love,” Schmelzer said.
