Our aim is to get the supermarkets to consistently display the correct nation of origin on their packaging. At the moment they’re actively going out of their way to show Scottish made produce as made in Scotland whilst displaying English, Welsh and Northern Irish produce as British.
OK, fair enough, all they’re after is a bit of consistency...
But let's say a Tescos on the mainland was faced with this item of beauty:
What flag should be displayed on a bottle of finest Irish?
1. The Union flag
2. The Ulster Banner
3. The Cross of St.Patrick or *gulp*
4. The flag of the state generally (although erroneously) considered to be “Ireland”?
(I know someone who'll be having a chuckle at number 4)!)
11 comments:
This exercises me O'Neill, don't you know!
I've had a bone or two to pick with the management at the Bushmills distillery.
Under the circumstances, and there's no conceivable way they're going to display a Union Jack on their produce - let's be realistic - the Compromise is probably no flag.
However, I think they should display the country of origin: the UK or Northern Ireland, UK.
They'll never do it; just think of the great Irish diaspora abroad.
Tim
THe bottle I have at home in London says made in Ireland, Good enough for me
Anonymous, refer to O'Neill's fourth point, please.
No flag of course.
The whole point of Fair Flags is that whereas Scottish and Welsh produce gets marked with the Scottish and Welsh flags respectively, more often than not English produce is marked solely with the Union Flag.
Supermarkets openly admit that this is because many in Scotland and Wales won't buy products marked as English - and by "many", they mean a sizeable percentage of the population.
I can confirm this.
I am currently working for the Spar retail group. They have to sell Welsh milk in Wales because the Welsh simply won't buy English milk - this fact has come up more than once in meetings I have attended.
Of course there is a flip-side to this. Nowadays I won't buy Scottish salmon if Iceland, Faroe or Norwegian salmon is available. Ditto other products wherever I have the choice. (I prefer Mornflake porridge oats, but I suspect they are of Scottish origin like all the rest).
Pettiness breeds pettiness.
The difference is in the respective sizes of our population. If the same percentage of English reject Scottish (or Welsh, Or Irish) produce as Scots, Welsh or Irish reject ours, then we'll survive - but Scots, Welsh and Irish businesses will go to the wall.
We didn't start it - but we can finish it.
I'm happy to purchase British, or UK, produce; whether it's from Wales, NI, Scotland or England - in no particular order! The bottom line is that it's from the United Kingdom.
Tim
THe bottle I have at home in London says made in Ireland,
I've no problem with that, it's made on the island of Ireland. The problem which occured earlier on in the year is that it was being marketed under the flag of the Republic of Ireland in certain places abroad. To be fair to Diagio (who now own Bushmills), after a couple of correspondences they acknowledged and rectified the mistake.
My own preference would be as per Wildgoose, no flags whatsoever, we're selling butter and milk not exclusive national identities. And if it makes you feel better Wildgoose there are folk in NI who would buy anything from anywhere else in the Uk, rather than a prodict which originated a couple of miles south of the border. Given the choice, I'll plump for the UK product each time.
Hear, hear again O'Neill: My sentiments entirely.
Tim
The Starry Plough and "made by proletarians laboring under false consciousness in the belly of the Unionist entity"
"The local proletarians, who actually live in Bushmills, laboring under false consciousness in the belly of the Unionist entity" may have something to say about that!
BTW, you’re not Willie Brown in disguise are you??!
That “laboring” gave you away!
Hi, I am one of the people behind Fair Flags. We are not insisting that any brand uses a flag if they choose not to, only that where they are used they are used fairly.
But being English, we are interested in the question you have, which would be the best flag for NI?
We are inviting comment on our blog site from Northern Irish people to help us get it right. Maybe you (and any other interested parties) could help us?
What Flag is Fair for Northern Ireland?"
I can't say I've noticed while trawlling through all the Scotch Whiskey to get to my Bushmills on the shelf at my local Scottish Tescos that the Whiskey is branded differently from the Whisky. I'll pay more attention next time. As for the Scottish stores labelling Scottish produce clearly Scottish I whole heartily approve as it means I can reduce my carbon footprint on the transportation factor.
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