Opinion: Invasive Pest Ad Camaign Effective

There’s this new TV advertising campaign in California designed to make people aware of the threat invasive pests represent, and it’s going to be a success. I know because it passed the “Wow” test.

You see, when I show something to my wife that I find remarkable for some reason, usually she just nods. It’s not that she doesn’t care, it’s just that our interests are pretty divergent. A Venn diagram showing them would intersect at our kids — and that’s about it.

For example, if I’m watching a football game and I point out a replay of a guy making what I consider a terrific catch, she usually just nods and says something on the order of “Whatever.” But if it truly catches her fancy, which is extremely rare, the catch gets a “Wow.” The ads for the HungryPests Coalition got a “Wow,” and that’s a very good thing.

It’s good because it would help growers and anyone else involved in agriculture if the general public understood how serious invasive pests can be. Such an understanding would help in many ways, from potentially recognizing a need for area-wide eradication programs to perhaps a generally greater acceptance of the need for pesticides.

As the website for the coalition, www.hungrypests.com, states, invasive pests affect every Californian. “They eat our food, destroy our parks and forests, wreck our gardens, and throw our ecosystem off balance. Farmers lose crops, prices for produce and other goods rise, and our beautiful natural resources are threatened.

“The negative economic impact to our state’s economy from invasive pests could be devastating as agricultural exports diminish through loss of products or quarantines imposed by other states and countries.” Indeed, the site notes that California’s agricultural losses to exotic pests exceed $3 billion annually.

“They’re Here And They’re Hungry”

The HungryPests Coalition, according to the website, “is a statewide coalition of individuals and organizations that understand the threat of invasive pests to our ecosystems, quality of life, food supply, and economic system. It also supports the preservation of our gardens, farms, forests, parks, and other plant life through public education about the need to manage and, where possible, eliminate these pests before they get out of control.”

Coalition members include many groups specifically associated with fruit, including the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, the California Apple Commission, the California Dried Plum Board, and the California Tree Fruit Agreement.

The coalition’s USDA-sponsored website has all sorts of neat features. One of my favorites is the Invasive Pest Tracker. You run your cursor over a pest such as the light brown apple moth, and the quarantined areas of the state are highlighted on a map. Then click on the pest, and you can learn all about it.

And those ads I mentioned? One features a young girl in a pretty yellow dress skipping through a vineyard as a dreamy/creepy sound track plays. Then she skips through a peach orchard and one of the peaches falls to the ground and shrivels up in seconds. The gravel-voiced narrator, who has mentioned the problem of invasive insects, then intones: “The damage is very real.”

If that weren’t catchy enough, the ad closes with the girl reaching a hilltop with what I assume is the San Joaquin Valley below. Then, I kid you not, the girl transforms into a swarm of insects. The narrator concludes in an almost threatening manner: “Because they’re here, and they’re hungry.” I know what you’re thinking: “Wow.”