It’s a questions that came up from my last post. What’s
wrong with Salt and Vinegar Chipsticks?
Well let me tell you! Nothing. There is nothing is wrong
with them really. I personally don’t like the flavour, but many people do. In
fact my sister does, so we can definitely rule out it being a nature / nurture
thing. I actually like people who do prefer the flavour. They leave all the
Ready Salted Chipsticks for me to eat.
BUT! For some reason, everyone thinks that flavour is better,
and that salt and vinegar chipsticks are better than Ready Salted
Chipsticks. This is my main bone of contention with them. Why? Why does adding
an acid that makes people’s tongue tingle make them better? It makes them
different, yes, but not better.
If it were only that, I would be irked, but I do hold a
grudge for another reason. Most people call them by their full title of salt
and vinegar chipsticks, and unfortunately Ready Salted Chipsticks often get
reduced to “plain”. Now, this was a massive marketing error, which I think many
of the crisp manufacturers of the world have been trying to correct for years.
Why you ask? Look up plain in the thesaurus. In fact no need, I’ve copied it
for you.
Plain (Adjective):
ordinary, homely, common, simple, modest, everyday, commonplace, lowly,
unaffected, unpretentious, frugal, workaday
Looking through that word association you can see what these
were more difficult to sell, but it still doesn’t mean that they weren’t well
loved! Walkers sensibly decided not to let this word mar their reputation and
went on a campaign to rebrand theirs as “Ready Salted – The Daddy” which was pointed
out to millions by Ray Winstone. No one, not even the owners (also Walkers by
the way), bothered to do this for poor old Ready Salted Chipsticks. Perhaps
this isn’t exactly the fault of poor old s’n’v, but at the end of the day I
still blame them for it.
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