The Los Angeles Times has described the group as an "internet and publishing phenomenon that may or may not be completely serious".
[1] It parodies defunct government organisations such as the milk and potato marketing boards.
The group came to prominence in 2012 when it managed to persuade a number of serious media outlets that it was a real entity.
[2] Reporters at The Times newspaper investigated the Board a number of days later, concluding that it was a 'very funny spoof'.
[3] The Lancashire Life website explained that the Tripe Marketing Board had been created by the authors of a humorous guide called Forgotten Lancashire and Parts of Cheshire and the Wirral by Dr Derek J Ripley, and had then been taken seriously by journalists.