Those cute cows everyone likes so much who are always cunningly trying to persuade us to eat more &uot;chik’in&uot; are going to have their work cut out for them.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve spent a lot of time with their advertising representatives focus grouping the heck out of the avian flu situation.

And they are not alone.

Advertising Age reported today that Chicken giant Kentucky Fried Chicken is working on launching a massive campaign to convince consumers that the finger-lickin’ goodness of their product is worth the risk that it might give you avian flu and kill you.

The same goes with the egg industry. I read this morning an item from the Drudge Report which said that in Asia, officials were worried about the high number of chickens infected with the flu virus and whether they were passing that infection on through their eggs.

Even if it proves not to be in the eggs, egg eaters are not out of the woods. Apparently, chickens release the virus through their excrement, which covers the shell of the egg, so the fear is that humans could acquire the virus through touching eggs.

Not very appetizing.

I don’t know about you, but I worry a little about eating food that slick marketers have to convince me is safe. The cows should be worried.