Mandy Rice-Davies, an actor in the 1963 Profumo Affair, famously responded to a barrister's statement that Lord Astor denied having an affair or having even met her with the comment "Well, he would, wouldn't he?". (After that, as she subsequently commented, her life was "one slow descent into respectability".)
There's a hint of "they would say that, wouldn't they" in both Kraft's denial of cynicism - or a stuff up - in the launch of its new Vegemite Cream Cheese concoction and in the media beat up about the launch.
The
SMH reports that
iSnack2.0 fury prompts naming rethink -
Consumer uproar over iSnack2.0 has forced Kraft to concede that its new Vegemite-cream cheese blend might have to be renamed.
US-based Kraft is now considering how it could change the name of the product before half a million of the jars bearing the new name go on sale over the next few days.
"There's a distinct possibility that we'll be critically evaluating the name", Kraft's head of corporate affairs Simon Talbot said today. "The name isn't resonating with success or favour."
How very very strange ... and sad that the matter's featured in the
Herald as the paper slides downmarket as a purveyor of infotainment and corporate media releases.
The number of negative comments posted on blogs and on social networking sites is now running into the thousands, prompting Kraft to step back from fully endorsing the new name, which was chosen from 48,000 as part of a competition to get Australians to name the new spread.
Kraft has about 500,000 jars of the iSnack2.0-labelled product in warehouses in Sydney and Melbourne. They will start arriving on supermarket shelves today, Mr Talbot said. That is about two months of supply, he said. ... But the new name has roused almost universal indignation.
The marketers may be dancing all the way to the bank - two items in the
SMH, let alone all those "thousands" of negative comments (including this author's snark) are one way of getting exposure for a household staple. Or it could just be another demonstration of not letting your creatives and MBAs off the leash, in case they succumb to the fad (not dead, just smells that way) for
whacking an e- or an i- in front of every moniker or spraying
2.0 on the label.
A later
SMH item reported
Kraft crumbles: iSnack2.0 scrapped
Kraft has bowed to public pressure and ditched the name iSnack2.0 for its new Vegemite-cream cheese blend.
"We have been overwhelmed by the passion for Vegemite and the new product. The new name has simply not resonated with Australians. Particularly the modern technical aspects associated with", said Kraft spokesman Simon Talbot.
In a statement this afternoon, the company said it would once again throw open the challenge to Australians to come up with a new name.
But the company denied it had all been a publicity stunt.
"At no point in time has the new Vegemite name been about initiating a media publicity stunt," Mr Talbot, said. "We are proud custodians of Vegemite and have always been aware that it is the people's brand and a national icon."
Thousands of the jars with the new name will be distributed to supermarkets ready to go on sale, ensuring that the soon to be scrapped name will quickly become a collectors' item.
