‘Meaty’ slogan catches eyes at Murphy press conference

Things got interesting during Governor Phil Murphy's COVID-19 press briefing on Monday. You might call this one #meatgate.

As business people across the state watched nervously, always waiting for the other shoe to drop and more restrictions to be announced, a slogan appeared on the screen which got some people's attention.

"You can’t beat our meat."

Listen folks, this was simply Phil Murphy trying to pay praise to a New Jersey business as it struggles its way through a challenging pandemic year. The presser showed a 1911 Smoke House bar-b-que panel on the screen but at the bottom of that was the restaurant's phrase. "You can’t beat our meat."

Now if you were only half paying attention and just glanced up and saw only that, you could have been quite startled into thinking boy, these restrictions just got much more severe. A year of lockdowns? What else is there to do! I mean I know you could only have a gathering of a few people in your home, but this?

Or perhaps you could have regarded this as another restriction the way indoor sports have gone away, but this time in the realm of cooking competitions. As in they could no longer be held and nobody could compete to prove themselves meat-worthy.

During a high pressure serious issue like the public handling of the coronavirus outbreak, whoever was in charge of the audio visual for this press briefing must’ve done a brief double take at this moment. It just didn't feel very...gubernatorial.

The reason 1911 Smoke House bar-b-que of Trenton was being mentioned is as an example of a business working with the state to secure a grant. Owner Maurice Hallett received the grant through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and can use the money to pay bills, help out his workers and provide meals at a discount to city residents.

Will they use the money in coming up with a better slogan?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.