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Manischewitz Revives Classic Campaign

To shill Jewish penicillin

by
Hadara Graubart
November 02, 2009
(NYTimes.com)
(NYTimes.com)

The New York Times reports today on several major trends going on that you may have missed. One is that non-Jews are buying kosher food due to “the increasing popularity of ethnic foods and the desire to know more about food ingredients, quality, labeling and nutrition.” (The latter reason seems dubious, considering that we’re talking about things like gefilte fish here). The second is that there has erupted something called the “broth wars”—companies that make soup stock are battling it out for dominance among a recession-ravaged, newly home-cooking populace. These two developments have culminated in a new branding campaign for perennial Jewish-joke punchline Manischewitz, which has entered the broth fray and revived an old slogan: “Man-O-Manischewitz!” Seems promising; after all, as the company’s ad man puts it, “Who wouldn’t think about buying a chicken broth from a company known for everything Jewish?”

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.