Archive for the ‘Consumer health’ Category

It was proclaimed yesterday in the Daily Mail that ‘Junk food is as addictive as heroin’.  The word EXAGGERATION springs to mind.  Not that I doubt the scientific credentials of the research, but comparing our love for chocolate cake to smack, do you not think that’s a bit of a stretch?  Have you ever heard of someone who’d been mugged by an addict to feed his Milky Way habit or a corner shop raided for its Curly Wurlys?  Perhaps it’s time we stopped using the term addict so liberally, because I’m pretty sure I could be accused of being addicted to Bacon Frazzles and Ribena. 

The media is reporting a survey by health campaign group Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) which shows that some pasta sauces on sale in the UK are saltier than sea water. A good hook for a survey but bad news for celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, whose spicy olive and garlic pasta sauce topped the poll with a whacking 3 grams of salt per 100g.

This looks to have been a brand extension too far. Jamie is a brand and brands need to deliver on their promise. Over the years, he has been the front man for campaigns on better school dinners, healthier eating, animal welfare, creating employment for disadvantaged young people, apple pie and more. Today’s news is at odds with his wholesome image. What is to be done? His team will be working to focus attention on their man’s good deeds. But while they control the brand, they don’t own Jamie’s reputation. His public image will be dented. Will his sales be hit? Certainly, expect a new recipe pasta sauce to be rushed out and to hear updates on his campaigning efforts. But when his next campaign is launched with television series, website and spin-off book, his public might just take it all with a pinch of salt.

Meanwhile, the celebrity cook market remains big business, particularly in the run up to Christmas. A quick search of the web shows that today Jamie can sell you:

Jamie Oliver salt and pepper mills

Jamie Oliver salt pig and scoop

Jamie Oliver pop-up salt mill

Jamie Oliver salt kilner jar

That just rubs salt in the wound.

I suffer from back pain periodically (hey I’m getting old, these things happen), and I use this medicine from Hong Kong to massage into the painful spot. Wong To Yick Wood Lock is the bomb, kind of like a nuclear deep heat which hits the spot and straight burns out the pain.

The reason why I am writing about it here is the contradiction in the packaging design. Which on one level seems old-school and conservative. However given that the world’s best printing industry is across the border in Shenzhen, it would be ridiculously easy for the unscrupulous to come up with an identical facsimile.

So they trick the cardboard box out with a holographic film (thats the shimmer you can see in the pictures.) A complete contradiction in design wrapped up in this one set of packaging.

This is cross-posted from my personal blog renaissance chambara.