Pig on the fork

From the 1950s onwards, the successful advertising campaign 'Pig on the Fork' ran regularly in the Danish media, ensuring growth in pork sales.

One of the largest and most successful advertising campaigns in Danish history and perhaps the primary reason why both Christmas Eve and Christmas lunch from the late 50s have industrial pork as the crowning glory on the dinner table.

Here at Det Grønne Museum we have a number of old printed food advertisements as part of our collections of Danish food history. Our food historian, Bettina Buhl, has selected this particular little advertisement which she calls the baptismal certificate of the Christmas lunch.

From the latter half of the 19th century, Denmark experienced a growth in the number of slaughterhouses, with many smaller towns also having their own meat outlets, either from the slaughterhouse itself or as outlets from the butcher's shop. The export of bacon to England was the driving force behind the influx of meat products in large quantities onto the Danish dinner tables. Pork – or pork as it was then called – was also to be sold on the Danish domestic market. This task was placed in the hands of the Export Svineslagteriernes Salgsforening. This was the starting point for one of the largest and most successful advertising campaigns in Danish history, “Pig on the Fork”, whose stated goal was to get Danes to eat more meat.
“Pig on the Fork” took advantage of the many new forms of advertising of the time. Among other things, this small brochure entitled “Christmas reminder” was sent out in the late 1950s. The advertisement was designed as an inspiration for the meaty elements of the Christmas table.

The Pig on the Fork campaign was a huge success in its first year, so it was natural for the Sales Association to follow it up. In the summer of 1958, a collaboration was initiated with the three regional animal shows. Thus, “Pig on the Fork” visible among livestock and agricultural machinery with informative material and tasting demonstrations.

Already 3 years after the launch of “Pig on the Fork” The chairman of the Sales Association was pleased to note: "While the consumption of pork per capita in Denmark fell in the years 1954-56, it increased quite significantly in 1957, 1958 and 1959, so that today it is 4.4 kg per capita above 1954. And this despite the fact that we are also fighting a change in consumption towards lean meat varieties here at home."

“Pig on the Fork” gradually became a slogan that most housewives knew. Many of the recipes were collected in the large Pig on the Fork calendar, which was distributed to butcher shops and hung in private homes. At the same time, "Dinner Idea of the Month", where new dishes were presented, partly as loose leaves that could be taken home, and partly as posters that showed the finished servings for decoration in every butcher shop.

Towards the end of the 1950s, the use of meat in cooking became increasingly widespread. Meat became what defined the meal, while vegetables served solely as accompaniments to the meat.

From the 1950s onwards, the successful advertising campaign 'Pig on the Fork' ran regularly in the Danish media, ensuring growth in pork sales.