A publication of the USDA AMS Livestock and Poultry Program, Agricultural Analytics Division

January 28, 2019

Of Thumbs and Wings – Marketing for the Big Game

 

Chickens do not have thumbs. They gave them up long ago in favor of wings. People do not have wings. Instead, they 

developed hands equipped with opposable thumbs. Through the ages, the wing and the thumb developed along 

independent, divergent paths – until the 20th century. 

The human thumb is opposable, meaning it can move around to touch the other fingers and, unlike other primates, our 

thumb can move further across the hand, allowing us to more easily grasp things and eat with one hand. While not unique 

to humans, we have developed unique ways to use it - like throwing a football. As it turns out, the opposable thumb is 

indispensable to grasping, and throwing, a football and, when the forward pass was made legal, it ushered in the modern 

football era. 

The human thumb also comes in handy for snacking on chicken wings. Made up of three parts - the drumette, flat, and tip 

- the chicken wing is useless for flight and was once considered the least desirable cut. That all changed in 1964 at the 

Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y., when the lowly wing was combined with hot sauce. Turns out, wing portions (the drumette and 

flat, most tips are not consumed in the U.S.) are the perfect finger food – easily held in one hand thanks to the opposable 

thumb. 

For a few years, wings gained popularity in the bar scene but, in 1967, when the first Super Bowl was played, thumbs and 

wings merged paths and the rest is history. Since that first Super Bowl, chicken wings have become a staple of football 

gatherings and tailgaters, even carrying over into other major sporting events with the annual college basketball 

tournaments and the college and pro football season rivaling the big game for wing consumption. In fact, any big sporting 

event that generates a crowd increases demand for chicken wings. 

Since the 2018 Super Bowl was played, the U.S. chicken industry produced an estimated 31 billion chicken wing portions 

(drumettes and flats). At least 4.5 percent of those chicken wing portions are expected to be marketed during the week 

leading up to this year’s game. That’s 1.4 billion chicken wing portions flying through the fingers of eager football fans 

across the nation! With an estimated television viewership of just over 100 million, that’s about 13 wing portions per viewer. 

In recent years, the chicken wing has become a victim of its own success and, as demand has frequently outpaced supply, 

the door has been opened to a host of competitors, primarily the “boneless” wing and the pork rib. But as long as fans 

gather to root on their favorite team, the chicken wing, clutched firmly between the opposable thumb and forefinger, will 

be there. 

Traditionally, Championship Sunday takes place in 

front of the television. In fact, some of the best annual 

deals on new TV’s can be found in January targeting 

the big game. However, TV viewership has declined 

steadily from the high set in 2015. A big part of this 

decline is resulting from the popularity of 

livestreaming the game through social media, 

estimated at 2 million viewers in 2018. Regardless, the 

majority of fans will view the big game 

in front of their television sets where 

finger food rules the menu. 

For more information, see the Feature Advertising by U.S. Supermarkets Meat and Poultry Super Bowl report.

M arket Insights

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