Marmite Mafia

IMGP3902.JPG
Originally uploaded by jonnyeye.

Today, when visiting an American Safeway for the first time, I had an epiphany.  No, NOT a Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi...but a sudden realisation of meaning.

Consumer brands really ARE quite important - ouch -  in that they help you navigate endless choices.  Believe me, the UK actually has very few brands in common with California - Kraft, Kelloggs, Dominoes...but even then the products and packaging are different. 

I was hopelessly lost in Safeway and pursued the strategy of buying the most expensive option in every case...expensive salt, expensive olive oil, expensive jam, expensive pizza....and I still didn't feel like I had stuff I'd enjoy in my basket.

Incidentally, Americans must be differently culturally conditioned when it comes to 'clean smells'.  Where in the UK, 'clean' tends to translate as lemons, pine or 'sea breeze', all the cleaning products here - shampoos,  kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff - reek of ammonia and old people's homes. 

You might be thinking that, as an advertising professional, I'd know all this stuff.  Well of course I do....but like most people, I hate to admit that my mind is being manipulated by....er....people like me.

Coincidentally, I then stumbled across a specialist British grocers at the dodgy end of California Street.  Imagine huge installations of Baked Beans, Tetley's Tea Bags, McVities Biscuits and Wham Bars.  The shopkeeper (for we are a nation of them) was a strange and unhappy fellow, originally from Lancashire.  He's been in the States for 4 years, fighting for Rowntree's Jelly like a wounded animal.  "These people are crazy" he told me "Have you tasted their macaroni cheese?" 

Personally, I'm not sure the best way to enjoy a foreign country is to barricade yourself behind a wall of Bird's Custard tins.  I grabbed a Mars Bar and got the hell outta there, bro.

Comments

[botski]

did he have any wotsits?

do they have wotsits by another name?

are their snacks worth the obesity that they fuel?

[jonnyeye]

Cheesy Cheetos which are a cheating cheesy snack unworthy of my cheese hole.

No fatties here on account of the hills innit.

Welcome to Blogography, Mr. B.