The event listing for Friday's Hoffman Hot Dog eating contest at the Texas State Fair in Dallas announces that amateurs and college students will compete against each other (winner will receive $1,000) and then Takeru Kobayashi will do an exhibition. update A press release announces the prizes will be $1000/$500/$250 update Oct 11 Syracuse.com and Dallas Observer have articles about the contest.

October 10, 2012 at 10:15 am by ojrifkin · More posts about:College Contests, Dallas, Kobayashi (小林尊), Prizes | Permalink * Comments (12)

12 Comments »

  1. Okay said

    October 10, 2012 @ 12:44 pm

    This contest was supposed to be with pros. I guess Hoffman’s budget has gone to shit

  2. Anonymous said

    October 10, 2012 @ 1:57 pm

    Likely Hoffman’s could spend money but after the introductory debacle, they choose not to. They signed a contract with Kobayashi so they are going to have to get something out of him but clearly it is more work and money for them to even try to make competitions including other pros. He will be an exhibitionist, pun fully intended.

  3. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    October 10, 2012 @ 1:58 pm

    Most eaters look like amateurs next to Koby, so why not use real amateurs and college students and save money. Sounds smart to me.

  4. Scoop said

    October 10, 2012 @ 2:24 pm

    Yep, add the independent pros to one more group that Kobi’s lied to and screwed over for his own greed not including them in Hoffmann contests. I wonder what would happen if Stephanie showed up to Texas, tell her she couldn’t eat? Kobi begged the indies to help him out by doing his events to gain credibility with the media and he tosses the indies aside after embarrassing them. Let’s see now, the indie eaters, Nathan’s, Crif Dogs, MLE, West Coast Hot Dogs, the list keeps getting longer. The only satisfaction is that it looks like Hoffman’s really hadn’t thought out a successful promotion strategy and “Free” Kobi’s now tied to these jokers after signing a contract that he vowed he’d never sign. What a joke of a pr strategy. In every press release Hoffmann’s refer to Kobi as past world champion hot dog eater. But, reporters know Kobi became a world champion by eating Nathan’s hotdogs. So any reporter stupid enough to cover these non-news Hoffmann dog and pony shows, Nathan’s actually gets mentioned along side Hoffmann’s in every story — real smart guys. Also, I’m sorry guys, but I’m not seeing Hoffmann’s showing up on any grocery store shelves. Nor am I seeing that crappy commercial of Kobi oddly eating bunless hotdogs in any markets.

  5. Flack said

    October 11, 2012 @ 11:23 am

    Having been in the media business for over three decades and having done thousands of media advisories, I find it extremely telling the placement of the amateur eating contest and Kobayashi’s eating demonstration in this media advisory. Journalism 101 teaches that you place the item of most interest to reporters in the lead and less interesting information lower in the text. Instead of leading off with Kobi’s exhibition, this lead starts off with the amateur eating event as the most attractive reason for reporters to attend with Kobi’s exhibition as an aside. Even the headline fails to mention Kobi. In getting their product national recognition, it appears Hoffmann’s pr office now recognizes Kobi’s limited promotional benefits. Kobi can’t pitch the product without an interpreter; he’s a Japanese foreign national promoting an inconic U.S. product (hot dogs) to Americans; his solo eating demos are stale, been there, seen that before excercises; and, he made his name through a competitor (Nathan’s). When Kobi first signed on with Hoffmann’s, Kobi was supposed to eat against amateurs. That’s now changed. If Hoffmann’s does fade out Kobi, he better hope they let him get of his loyalty clause so “Team Kobi” can scam other hot dog companies with Kobi’s abillity to sell products.

  6. Anonymous said

    October 11, 2012 @ 5:37 pm

    11:23 am. The first lesson for a budding journalist such as yourself is to do adequate research. A simple search produced the following

    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/world-champion-eater-kobayashi-to-judge-hofmann-hot-dog-challenge-173609241.html
    http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/10/4328763/world-champion-eater-kobayashi.html
    http://www.kxxv.com/story/19789240/world-champion-eater-kobayashi-to-judge-hofmann-hot-dog-challenge
    http://www.bigtex.com/sft/entertainment/2012FULLLINEUP.asp
    http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2012/10/kobayashi_judges_hot_dog_eatin.php

  7. One F said

    October 11, 2012 @ 5:48 pm

    Must be hard to spell…. its “Hofmann” one F There will come a time when Hofmanns Americas Greatest Hot Dog will become a household name thanks largely to Takeru Kobiyashi popularity. And with the help of the well oiled, expierenced and succesful group that now own the business. Thank you and have nice day!

  8. Anonymous said

    October 11, 2012 @ 5:51 pm

    Flack’s bud was nipped before it sprouted.

  9. Anonymous said

    October 11, 2012 @ 6:50 pm

    No really at all. Look at the publicity. No New York Times, LA Times, The Guardian, etc. There is publicity and publicity, not impressed. One or two f’s, either way Flack has good points.

  10. Flack said

    October 12, 2012 @ 12:04 pm

    When not knowing that Hofmann’s is spelled with one “F” is the only argument against the facts that Hofmann’s top spokesperson Kobayashi can’t speak English in promoting your product in a predomently English speaking nation; Kobayashi is a Japanese foreign national promoting the iconic American hot dog; Kobayashi gained his “world champion” status by eating an established internationally recognized hot dog Nathan’s; Kobayashi left the world stage by making a fool out of himself storming the stage and getting arrested trying to eat Nathan’s again; and, for the last two years would eat any and every hot dog company’s product for whatever company would pay Kobayashi the most money … I can keep going if you would like. The fact that OJ and others don’t know that Hofmann’s is spelled with one “F” may not be the major flaw behind Hofmann’s “crack” PR team’s strategy in gaining their product’s national recognition. So for Hofman’s “crack” PR team, when you sooner or later figure out that Kobayashi might not have been the smart choice as lead spokesperson for their product, the phrase, “We’re ucked” may come to mind — insert the “F” where appropriate.

  11. Flack Fan said

    October 12, 2012 @ 12:41 pm

    It’s funny as hell that One F bitches about the spelling of Hofmann’s, but can’t spell Hofmann’s, America’s, Kobayashi, experienced and successful.

  12. anonymous said

    October 12, 2012 @ 2:30 pm

    Obviously 1204 has no life no friends . Really Who the hell cares about Hoffman Kobayashi?

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