This Is Hormel

[mattwnelson]

Maybe it's just me, but the content didn't bother me a bit. I found it more interesting than horrifying. But it was hilarious.

[CJones]

Another thing I found hilarious was that record player sized hard disk drive I wonder if that could store more than my calculator.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Another thing I found hilarious was that record player sized hard disk drive I wonder if that could store more than my calculator.

What year was this short made?  Most of those large platter disks were 5MB per disc if double sided, I've got a few of them sitting in my office at work, but that was in the 70s, they were probably less than that if this short is older.  What a pain keeping those things clean enough to use, you had to clean the disc with a tool that looked like a tongue depressor covered in cotton, and the large ceramic heads also needed frequent removal and cleaning.  We had a piece of equipment at work that still used one up until the early 90s.

[Trekker4747]

This short utterly thrills me. It's one of their better ones. I love how Kevin chuckles when the kids mis-pronounces "Hormel."

Watching this didn't creep me out, I could still eat meat right after this. Of course, I work in a related industry so maybe I've been desensitized to it.

Another bit that makes me laugh good is when the kids deliver the letter.

Narrator: "It's so fun to send off a letter and wait for a reply."
Mike: "It's so fun no one has done it since around 2002."

[BathTub]

Maybe it's just me, but the content didn't bother me a bit. I found it more interesting than horrifying. But it was hilarious.

Yeah my grandparents had a farm, I took a few trips to the Freezing Works over the years so there wasn't anything I thought was gross or weird.

[losingmydignity]

It was hilarious, but I had to look away for long periods of time. I'm not a vegetarian but I haven't cooked meet at home since my college days (a long time). It's nothing to do with morality, I just have a very strong visceral reaction to raw meat.

If my kids asked me to take them to such a place it would be time to call in the child psychologists.

[Trekker4747]

When I was kid and I saw trains never once did I see a one of the cars with a corporate logo on it that made we want to visit that company to see their operations.  And I live in the midwest (as these kids seemed to) I mean we're not *that* bored here.

And while I'm sure that Hormel and other companies do offer tours and such for kids (most likely school tour groups) I kinda doubt they take them to the skinning machines, the machines that clean the hides for leathering and the various other things we see here.

And I still do get where the narrative of this comes from. The "story" being told (Hormel, their wide range of products and how they are produced) hardly depends on these kids visiting the plant.  Seems to me like most other films of this sort they could've just shown all of this happening without the setup of the kids.

[pstokely]

does Hormel still give tours?

[MrTorso]

Write a letter and find out?

[jjlava]

does Hormel still give tours?

Not sure about here is a SPAM Museum in Austin, MN. http://www.spam.com/spam-101/the-spam-museum I'm a lifelong Minnesotan and have never eaten Spam before. Just can't get past the look of the stuff.

[Lembach]

As if Hormel products weren't disgusting enough.

Oh, I don't know. I love their chili. 

[The Elusive Robert Denby]

I'd guess this short is from the mid-60s.  I looked up the Hormel official site, and they say that they came up with the Hormel Cure 81 ham in 1963; I think it was mentioned in the short, so it would have to have been filmed shortly after.

What really caught my interest was an earlier item on their timeline:

"1949:

In a bold marketing move, Jay C. Hormel established the Hormel Girls, a traveling troupe of 60 musical women, to promote Geo. A. Hormel & Co. products. No one had ever seen the likes of a women's drum and bugle corps that toured, sang and sold Geo. A. Hormel & Co. products."

Scour the archives!  I'd pay good money to see a video featuring the Hormel Girls!

[Miku Fan]

I thought buffalo rider was offensive (and it was), but this was just overboard. 
I won't ever watch Hormel or  Buffalo Rider again.  For some reason, I'm thinking Moose Baby falls in this category, but I can't remember why.

[MerryWanna]

MMMMMMMMmmmmm!Ingredient meat!

[MerryWanna]

This was one of the great shorts because the damn thing itself is so funny that between the laughs I get from the thing itself and the laughs I get from the responses to it, I wear myself out. I loved the Batchmaster measuring the weiners so much I nearly peed myself. The only other recent short I remember being this funny was Goodbye Weeds.