Again, everyone already understands the annual hot dog eating competition is just an advertisement for Nathan’s....
Never, ever forget that Major League Eating was founded on the heels of a successful PR campaign to increase the exposure of the Nathan's contest. And the Shea brothers, the founders of Major League Eating, "started their own (PR) firm...and...took the Nathan's account with them." Oh, and George Shea's wife "is a writer for WWE and a former soap opera producer."
These folks are masters of promotion and publicity.
Chestnut will be back, likely on the eve of the contest. You can almost feel it.
What's the angle, though? Just more attention for Nathan's, in the few weeks before the contest on the Fourth of July?
Maybe the Shea brothers are working to promote Impossible Foods, which makes the vegan dog they currently, apparently, view as a conflict of interest. Maybe they resolve the "conflict" in a couple weeks with some manufactured resolution that vegan dogs don't compete with actual hot dogs, that the two can, in fact, co-exist. I can see the commercials now.
Maybe? Maybe.
Whatever the angle, it's PR gold for everyone involved – Nathan's, the contest, Impossible Foods, and, lest we forget, Joey Chestnut.
And I'm here for all of it.
tags: fourthofjuly nathans mle
posted by matt in Wednesday, June 12, 2024