ENCORE: Beyond Meat vs Impossible Burger | Break from the Herd | 4

This series originally aired in 2024. It's May 2022, El Segundo, California. In his office meeting with Beyond Meat's marketing team, 51 year old Ethan Brown hovers his finger over the play button on a video. The clip is the final cut of a new Beyond Meat online ad. The ad features an endorsement from a big celebrity who once broke the Internet, Kim Kardashian. I believe so much in the mission of Beyond Meat that I've stepped in to help with my greatest asset, my taste. This plant based meat is not only amazingly delicious, but it's also better for you and better for the planet. It's a simple change that makes a really big difference. Okay. And now that I'm Beyond Meat's chief taste consultant, there's never been a better time to go Beyond. Whoo. Whoo. Ethan and his team exchange high fives. This is phenomenal, guys. Great work. When the ad debuts in late May, Beyond Meat is racking up debt and bleeding cash. It hopes Kardashian can stem the bleeding. But when the ad debuts on Kardashian's Instagram, some of her hundreds of millions of followers think they've caught her fake chewing the faux meat, and that makes news at Entertainment Tonight. Kim Kardashian starts some Internet beef, it's so crazy, over how she eats fake meat. And while Kim is chewing and holding that burger in the ad, fans quickly pointed out she never takes an actual bite of the food. While most people would bask in the free publicity with arguably one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, Ethan is less than impressed with the negative conversation around the Beyond brand. As the controversy heats up, he meets again with his marketing team. He's tired of bad news surrounding Beyond Meat. Its stock has cratered in the past year, and its sales have suffered as inflation has risen and consumers have shunned pricey plant based meats. Ethan wants his team to squash the Kardashians story. Guys, don't we have any film of Kim eating our products? Yeah, Ethan. We got a bunch of outtakes from the ad shoot, and we're already putting those together. But Kim also made a suggestion. She says we shouldn't post the behind the scenes footage of her eating for a couple more days. Why would we do that? We need to prove that she ate this stuff and prove it now. Now Kim says we ought to let the bad press on this bill for a while, then we'll get another wave of attention when we post a follow-up video. Ethan scratches his bearded chin and ponders Kardashian's strategy. He decides to trust her instincts for publicity. Days later, when the outtakes go online, the Today Show is among the media outlets who cover the story just as Kardashian expected they might. Alright. Next up, Kim Kardashian. The reality star is clapping back after receiving criticism online for her recent campaign with Beyond Meat. So here we go. …