People have long debated what food category hot dogs belong to. In fact, it's one of the most divisive food topics. Some say a hot dog is a sandwich because the two key components of a sandwich, bread and meat, are present. Others, however, insist hot dogs are in a category of their own because, well, just look at the shape. Finally, an expert has weighed in on the debate, and some people really won’t like what he has to say.
PR Week recently published an article entitled, “Oscar Mayer’s marketing head gets controversial: ‘A hot dog is a sandwich." If you’re laughing to yourself about the ridiculous use of the word "controversial" in this headline, clearly you’ve never been involved in a Twitter debate over food. Take it from us, things can get heated. Among questions about Oscar Mayer’s new nitrate-free hot dogs and the company’s social media strategy, PR Week got down to it and asked marketing head Gregory Guidotti the real, hard-hitting question, "is a hot dog a sandwich?"
In his response, Guidotti acknowledged that most people — most logical people, IMHO — do not believe hot dogs qualify as sandwiches. However, the marketing director pulled out his undergraduate English degree to support why he thinks that the food in question is, in fact, a sandwich. He said, “the dictionary defines a hot dog as a sandwich consisting of a frankfurter in a split roll. I was an English major as an undergrad, so I’m taking the contrarian view that it is a sandwich, because it really aggravates people in the office here.”
Though we're tempted to regard Guidotti as an authority on the matter since he works at Oscar Mayer, a hot dog institution, he is the first to admit that even among his colleagues, his isn't a universally accepted opinion. He told Food & Wine, "Most/All of my colleagues don’t agree with me, to put it mildly. But we all share a love of Oscar Mayer & hot dogs…so we’re thrilled that people are having this conversation.” So, the debate remains unresolved, and if an Oscar Mayer employee can't settle it, we're guessing no one ever will.