Newspapers and radio stations in the City of Angels are all aflutter with questions about the vote. People want to know – have you taken the time to cast your vote yet? Every vote counts and is important, we are reminded.
The Los Angeles Hot Dog Vote
No, this isn’t about the upcoming mid-term elections. This vote is for something much more important than some silly congressional seats. It’s all about the official hot dog of the City of Los Angeles.
That’s right, Farmer John, a subsidiary of food giant Hormel has teamed up with a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, Andre Ethier, to push for a campaign to make the bacon wrapped hot dog the official hot dog of Los Angeles.
There’s More to This Than Meets the Eye
While the voting is more a matter of “signing” an online petition at VoteLAHotDog.Org, there is also a bit of real life drama behind the voting. With the Great Recession continuing to grind on and more and more people being forced to turn to food banks in order to make ends meet, Farmer John and Ethier cooked up this campaign in order to give donations to local food banks.
For every vote recorded on the web site, Hormel has agreed to donate one pound of food to local food banks with a maximum total of 25,000 pounds being available for donation.
Farmer John, the Hormel subsidiary sponsoring the event, is based in Southern California. The company has said that they intend this campaign to be as much about selling their products to a hungry public as it is about being a “good neighbor” and “giving back” to the community.
But Will Los Angeles Really Get an “Official” Hot Dog?
It’s also not like the bacon wrapped hot dog is a foreign item for residents of the city. In fact, the treat is considered a specialty and a favorite of Angelinos–this campaign is simply meant to make it “official.”
No word has been heard as of yet from the mayor’s office or from the office of Governor Schwarzenegger as to how “official” the voting will make the status of the beloved food has yet been released.
Voting online began on September 2nd and will continue through November 2nd.
Jim Balis' Blog 