THE PINK MENACE
Case Study for Editorial Illustration
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
WORLD
U.S.
N.Y. / REGION
BUSINESS
TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE
HEALTH
SPORTS
OPINION
STYLE
TRAVEL
JOBS
REAL EST
Advertisement
EDITORIAL
“The Pink Menace”
April 3, 2012, 9:00 PM
The Pink Menace By MARK BITTMAN
Rick Perry — remember him? — was more inspired as a defender of Mark Bittman on food and all things related. TAGS: ‘PINK SLIME’, BEEF, HAMBURGERS
the beef processing industry than he was as a debater. Last week, Perry — along with Iowa’s governor-for-life Terry Branstad and Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas — implored the media to end its “smear campaign” against pink slime, the ammonia-treated burger extender he’d rather have us call by the name used by its producers: Lean Finely Textured Beef. Whether “pink slime” is a fair handle or not, public outrage has thrown it off a cliff. Some of the country’s largest grocery chains have
CLICK HERE to read the full article
ARTS
announced that they will no longer sell products containing it, as did McDonald’s, while Wendy’s emphatically insisted that it never has. The United States Department of Agriculture, a major buyer of pink slime for its National School Lunch Program, has offered participating schools the option to order their beef with or without it, though it will likely remain in many schools. As a result, the largest producer of the stuff, Beef Products Inc., has suspended operations at three of its four plants for 60 days, by which time it hopes to do some public relations hocus-pocus to
restore consumer confidence before resorting to permanent closures. We’ll see. A little review: Lean Finely Textured Beef was born about 10 years ago, as an attempt to eliminate E. coli from ground beef. Using fatty beef trimmings, which are especially susceptible to E. coli and salmonella contamination, B.P.I. created a product that could be Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012sprayed with ammonia (yes, that stuff, referred to by B.P.I.’s former quality assurance manager as “Mr. Clean,” in this dramatic piece by Michele Simon) to kill the bacteria. It was then mixed with “normal”
STATEMENT Creative Brief
Client
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. Its website is the most popular American online newspaper site, receiving more than 30 million unique visitors per month.
Problem
The online opinion piece, “The Pink Menace,” requires an illustration that will draw readers into the story and convey the author’s viewpoint on the subject of the article.
Solution
Since the author neither outright condemns nor celebrates the use of “Pink Slime,” I plan to create a piece that demonstrates a key functionality of the product—to clean beef—in a humorous, playful way. It will illuminate the biggest concern raised in the article: Why are we cleaning our meat?
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
RESEARCH
What is “Pink Slime?�
Pink slime, also known as lean finely textured beef (LFTB), is a beef-based food additive that may be as an inexpensive filler. It consists of finely ground beef scraps, sinew, fat, and connective tissue which have been mechanically removed in a heated centrifuge from the fat into liquid fat and a protein paste. The recovered material is processed, heated, and treated with ammonia gas or citric acid to kill E. coli, salmonella, and other bacteria then it is added to beef-based products.
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
RESEARCH
Inspiration & Reference
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
Process
Concept Sketches
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
Process
Digital Comps: Value & Composition
OFF
OFF
FDA
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
APPROVED
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
BEEF Z CLEN ORE IT .THEREF
.. IT’S PINK
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
’S MEAT!
BEEF Z CLEN RE IT’S .THEREFO
.. IT’S PINK
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
22 FL OZ / 650 mL
MEAT!
FDA
APPROVED
Process
Digital Comps: Color & Depth
ORE IT’S ..THEREF IT’S PINK.
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
MEAT!
FDA
APPROVED
22 FL OZ / 650 mL
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
BEEF Z CLEN RE IT’S .THEREFO
.. IT’S PINK
FDA
APPROVED
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
FDA
APPROVED
22 FL OZ / 650 mL
ORE IT’S ..THEREF IT’S PINK.
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
BEEF Z CLEN ORE IT’S ..THEREF IT’S PINK.
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN 22 FL OZ / 650 mL
MEAT!
FDA
APPROVED
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
MEAT!
FDA
APPROVED
OFF
MEAT!
BEEF Z CLEN
OFF
ORE IT’S ..THEREF IT’S PINK.
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
22 FL OZ / 650 mL
OFF
BEEF Z CLEN KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
MEAT!
22 FL OZ / 650 mL
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
OFF
BEEF Z CLEN
OFF
OFF RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
BEEFZ CLEN ORE IT’S ...THEREF IT’S PINK KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN 22 FL OZ / 650 mL
22 FL OZ / 650 mL KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
MEAT!
FDA
APPROVED
FDA
CLENZ APPROVED
IT’S PINK. ..THEREF ORE IT’S
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
MEAT!
Process
Digital Comps: Texture OFF TH STRENG L A I R T INDUS
F E E B Z N E L C AT! E IT’S ME R O F E R E ...TH IT’S PINK KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN 22 FL OZ / 650 mL
22 FL OZ / 650 mL KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
FDA
APPROVED
FDA
CLENZ APPROVED
IT’S PINK ...THERE FORE IT’S MEAT!
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
FINAL
In Context
OFF RENGTH RIAL ST INDUST
BEEFZ CLEN MEAT! ORE IT’S ...THEREF IT’S PINK KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN 22 FL OZ / 650 mL
22 FL OZ / 650 mL KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN
FDA
APPROVED
FDA
CLENZ APPROVED
IT’S PINK. ..THEREF ORE IT’S MEAT!
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012
CITATIONS
For more information about:
Pink Slime
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/the-pink-menace http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/03/22/setting-the-record-straight-on-beef http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-12/pink-slime-furormeans-disaster-for-u-dot-s-dot-meat-innovator http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-pinkslime-usda-announcement-20120315,0,6500521.story http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/15/148685884/usda-togive-schools-more-ground-beef-choices-after-outcry-over-pink-slime
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times
Jonathan Ball | GD208 Computer Drawing | Spring 2012