Beef and Pork Checkoffs

The American Prospect looks at beef and pork marketing campaigns and included this chart (via Yglesias):

The following discussions of the checkoffs and the growth of the chicken market was interesting to me:

What's interesting here is the divergent role the federal government has played in promoting pork and chicken. As Grist's Tom Philpott writes, "The marketing wizards behind this campaign are funded by the NPB [National Pork Board], which is a federally-mandated entity that's one of several so-called USDA "Check-off programs" responsible for marketing, some might say hyping, various agricultural products like pork, milk, cheese, and beef." The money comes from the industry, but the mandate comes from the government. The USDA data in the chart above indicate, however, that the government's boosterism is not, in this case, doing much good.
The federal government had a much more efficient method for promoting the growth of the chicken industry: it bought chicken. Before the 1920s, chickens were too valuable as egg producers to regularly feature on the dinner table, but by the time World War II had started, chicken farming had become its own industry. Chicken was cheap, and so the government bought it to feed soldiers and encouraged consumers to buy it in order to free up beef and pork supplies.
After that initial boost, the chicken industry's growth depended--and still depends--on its inclusion in prepared and fast foods. If the USDA really wanted to promote pork sales, its marketing campaign should probably be focused on convincing consumers that pork wiener schnitzel is basically equivalent to chicken tenders and pushing WalMart to ensure that both are available in its frozen food section.