The demand impacts of chicken contamination publicity-a case study

Adverse publicity regarding food contamination can depress demand, causing lost producer revenue. This study addresses the magnitude of those losses through the analysis of the impact of TV and print news coverage of bacterial contamination of chicken in the United States. An inverse demand model for chicken is estimated using weekly data from 1982 through 1991. Our findings indicate adverse publicity about salmonella contamination of chicken depressed the demand for chicken, but that the effect was small, less than 1% during the period of maximum exposure. Further, consumers soon forget this news as they reverted to prior consumption patterns in a matter of weeks. [EconLit citation: D120]