Why Oscar Mayer’s Bacon App Is Dangerous (to Bacon)

Oscar Mayer, storied maker of cylindrical and disc-shaped meat products, last week became a mobile technology company. Sort of. The Oscar Mayer ad department—the folks who brought you the “My bologna has a first name” kid—launched an app that, paired with a “bacon scent device” that you attach to your iPhone headphone jack, will wake you gently by bathing your bedroom in the smell and sounds of frying bacon. It’s a scent that’s guaranteed to rouse the deepest sleeper—pleasantly if one enjoys pork, in a cold sweat if one is vegan. The app can now be downloaded from Apple’s App Store, but the dongle is available only to winners of a contest the company is holding through its website.

The device itself is beside the point—the tone is set by the video that introduces the whole concept, a parody of all those ripely melodramatic eau de parfum ads on TV. Oscar Mayer is carrying out what’s known as a viral marketing campaign. Have you heard of this? Of course you have. It’s when a consumer-products company tries to create buzz—or sizzle—around a product with an ad that’s so silly, heartrending, horrifying, or otherwise memorable that people can’t resist the urge to forward the link to friends or post about it on social media or discuss it with co-workers once they’ve run out of ways to describe the weather. The process is aided and abetted by journalists on the lookout for short, catchy, food-related stories requiring minimal reporting that people can read on their computers while appearing to be working during their brief lunch breaks.