Flash in the Pan

At about 1:08 I posted a review of Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices and, as I generally do, sent a link to the company's PR firm. By around 2:15, someone named "Jenifer" tried to post a response - no last name or company affiliation, but given the phrasing, it seemed clearly to come from a partisan view. At about 3:15 I emailed the PR person asking who Jennifer was, and by close to 8pm have received no response, so I think my guess is probably accurate, whether a member of the PR firm or of the company itself, I can't tell. So let's have a look at the attempted posting:

I'm surprised you had such a strong reaction to the GG products.

So was I; it's rare to find something that bad.

Have you tried cooking with them?

I didn't have the heart to do that to an otherwise perfectly good dish. That seems tantamount to advocating a turned bottle of wine as an additives to a sauce. Umm .... no.

I think they are a good way to get close to fresh,...

The way Billings, Montana is close to Melbourne, Australia.

... and they are super convenient for those, like me, who love fresh herbs, but have trouble using them all up before they wilt or die.

The ingredients of the "Basil Herb Blend" are "basil, dextrose, whey (milk), sodium lactate, canola oil, fructose, glycerine, salt, sodium ascorbate to help protect flavor, ascorbic acid to promote color retention, xanthan gum, citric acid to promote color retention." Nope, it's not going to go bad, though I think I'm retaining something after trying it.

In any case, I think they are a good thing to have on hand, like reserves of soup or pasta in the pantry.

Or wasp spray in the gardening shed.

As a side note, there is fascinating research into the genetically determined ways different people taste things. Maybe you're tasting something some of us aren't?

I am genetically equipped with senses of smell and taste. Could you, perhaps, be missing them?

Labels: posting, PR, review

I was actually taken aback when I heard that for years Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey used to go into finance chat rooms anonymously to act as a cheerleader and to attack rival Wild Oats, which he now wants his company to acquire. The Federal Trade Commission filed suit this week to block the merger. As Bloomberg reports:

Mackey, 53, made the postings "under an alias to avoid having his comments associated with the company and to avoid others placing too much emphasis on his remarks," Whole Foods said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Oh, please, who is the Whole Foods PR machine trying to kid? He posted it anonymously to keep himself off the hook of criticism and of potential charges that he was trying to game the stock prices. But then, as I learned first hand, the Whole Foods PR department isn't above trying to say things like manmade synthetic versions of chemicals fed to salmon to color them aren't artificial dyes. In fact, I received an anonymous comment from someone trying to take the "It really is all natural" which makes me wonder if Mr. Mackey's comments went farther and wider than the Yahoo chat rooms.

Fortune is asking if he's too much of a loose canon to have as CEO of a pubicly-held company. As a consumer I'm wondering just how much more I'm going to be paying as a result.

Mackey is trying to put a good face on the whole FTC challenge, going on at length about it on his corporate blog, but then ended up posting the internal memo that the FTC is supposedly using as part of its case. What were reasons one and two for the move?:

Elimination of an acquisition opportunity for a conventional supermarket — our targeted company is the only existing company that has the brand and number of stores to be a meaningful springboard for another player to get into this space. Eliminating them means eliminating this threat forever, or almost forever.

Elimination of a competitor — they compete with us for sites, customers and Team Members.

He then went on to try and explain the memo. Interestingly, the memo was all about what it would do for the company - and that's fair enough, because, after all, it's a business move. But then as Mackey is trying explain why its so reasonable (twisting logic in some places, like trying to say that if the FTC objected to this merger, they should have objected to all acquisitions the company had done), he forgets that customers really don't care about getting the best business environment for Whole Foods. They want better choices and better food for themselves. Here's Mackey's argument:

Since the FTC never actually compared prices between Wild Oats and Whole Foods, how can they in good conscience claim that this merger will mean higher prices for consumers? They didn't conduct adequate research prior to making this claim! In fact, the exact opposite is true. Why? Because after the merger is complete, the acquired Wild Oats stores will be brought into Whole Foods system and their overall prices will be lowered. Consumers will be receiving lower prices, not higher prices after this merger is completed.

Oh, someone get me some aspirin. The biggest "natural food" chain buys the second biggest and, of course, prices won't go higher? Wait, wait - maybe I can go buy a bridge at the local Whole Foods. Let me get my piles of small unmarked bills first.

Labels: Mackey, posting, Whole Foods

I had turned off comments because I quickly got tired of what seemed to be PR attempts to deflect the point of a product review. However, having this be a completely one-way conversation is pretty boring, so I'm turning them back on, moderated, with the caveat that anything smelling of marketspeak will never hit the board. If I toss the occasional real remark that would be a pity, so make sure that you provide your email address if you're not registered so you can get word of a remark getting posted.

Labels: comments, moderated, posting, remarks