Long John Silver’s campaign pokes fun at meat, encourages seafood consumption

Restaurants are always trying to win the hearts of customers. Few go to the lengths of Long John Silver's which recently unveiled a strategy requiring years of preparation. 

Over the past two years the seafood-based fast food chain has been changing their menu from battered fish to more health-conscious options like grilled or baked fish dishes, according to Long John Silver's press release.

After the company cleaned up its menu to include items with to have zero grams of fat, Long John Silver's decided to release a string of banners that read "Think Fish," intended to encourage Americans to consider other forms of protein in their diet.

"The experts agree: Americans should eat more seafood and we're making it easy to do that," Long John Silver's Chief Marketing Officer Charles St. Clair said in the release.

In the past, Long John Silver's greatly relied on the Lenten season to attract customers into their doors, not heavily relying on POP signs, because Roman Catholics aren't allowed to eat land meats on Friday. This time around, Long John Silver's hopes to change the American consumer's perception of seafood through its television, print and online advertising campaigns, Nation Restaurant News reported.

"The timing is not inconsequential; it's leading into our Lenten season," St. Clair told the news source. "But this is not just a promotional event. This is our campaign."

St. Clair added that Long John Silver's decided to go with a humorous approach with their marketing tools because they felt it was an appropriate voice for the targeted audience. Instead of bashing "land-based proteins, [w]e're just trying to compare them to our wild-caught fish."

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