Soon after the media announced that the first case of mad cow disease in the United States had been discovered in eastern Washington, the manager of the Spokane Adventist Book Center, Herman Schreven, made arrangements for a billboard to be put up in Spokane. Since he ran a billboard on mad cow disease during Great Britain's outbreak several years ago, he asked the company to use the same message on the billboard. Fortunately, they were able to get it up in less than 24 hours.
The billboard, which was placed above a Wendy's fast-food restaurant, featured a strange-looking cow with the words, "Is meat starting to scare you?" A reporter from KREM, a CBS affiliate in Spokane, saw the billboard and did an interview with Schreven that was featured on the six and eleven o'clock news reports as well as the morning news the following day. The news report, which followed a general report on mad cow disease, resulted in positive coverage for the Adventist Book Center and its vegetarian foods.
The Adventist Book Center's billboard in Spokane on mad cow disease resulted in positive television coverage on the evening news.
