You can now support Arkansas while enjoying a slightly modified childhood classic. Tyson Foods, whose former CEO John H. Tyson was a key player in bringing John Calipari as a Razorback coach, announced the launch of Razorback Nuggets for all of the state to enjoy.
“When Arkansas fans cheer on our teams this season they will be inspired by their passion for the Hogs and fueled by the new Tyson® Razorback™ Nuggets,” Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said in a press release. “With these two iconic Arkansas brands teaming up, the Razorback™ Nation will be primed and ready to ‘Call the Hogs’ from pre-game to post-game while showing their loyal support of our more than 460 Razorback™ student-athletes.”
An initial report had these cute little guys showing up on shelves in NWA and throughout the Show Me State:
However, this won’t be the case, according to Kelsey Schroder, Managing Account Director for Sport at Ketchum, a PR agency working with Tyson. She said these porcine-poultry nuggets won’t be sold in stores in Missouri, but will be distributed across the state of Arkansas. So, as poultry lovers in Little Rock, Jonesboro and Texarkana rejoice, Missouri Tiger fans will have to wait patiently for another company to make chicken nuggets in the shape of a tiger.
Arkansas football fans all across the state can expect the nuggets to hit the shelves at their local Walmarts in August and Sam’s Club stores in September.
Chicken Nuggets as Razorback Agitprop?
Getting Razorback-shaped chicken nuggets into freezers across Missouri could have been a some kind of return volley for the Arkansas brand after Missouri football has recently made such inroads into the state. It’s one thing to essentially own a team in a series, as Missouri football program has done against Arkansas these last 8 years, but it’s an entirely different thing to go blast out propaganda deep within your rival state:
On top of that, former Greenwood coach Rick Jones has been the tip of the spear for the Missouri football head coach, Arkansas native Eli Drinkwitz, in making/keeping recruiting ties in the Natural State.
Perhaps the prospect of sneaking little edible Razorbacks onto the plates of the children of unsuspecting Tiger fans was simply too good to be true.
The real missed opportunity here, though, is in the NIL potential. If Arkansas Edge, the Hogs’ NIL collective, isn’t taking advantage of their golden ticket in the form of a chicken nugget shaped in the mascot of your favorite team, then the Hogs are missing out. (A representative of Arkansas Edge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
Other collectives have taken advantage of fans’ eagerness to eat and have a good time on game day. If even just a dime, or heck, a penny of each bag of Razorback nuggets went to Arkansas Edge and this truly became a hit among fans, it could plug the hole of required NIL money for at least about three minutes. A fast food classic could be partially responsible for helping head coach Sam Pittman out on the recruiting trail.
In the meantime, the catalyst who set all the chaos into motion says he can’t wait to get his hands on a bag. By choosing to come to Arkansas, John Calipari is the reason why so much of this exists in the first place.
Sure, a few crispy, delicious Razorbacks here and there on the plate of a Missouri fan may have been seen as a recruiting tool if you squinted your eyes just right.
The real recruiting tool, and marketing master stroke, comes through the splashes John Calipari keeps making for Arkansas in the college sports world.
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