Heinz 57 Varieties

YP's  post yesterday was entitled Pictures.  It had absolutely nothing to do with Heinz Beans. However in the esoteric comments that followed he mentioned "Heinz 57 Varieties" and Kylie of Eclectica asked "57 varieties of what?"

It made me wonder. Having grown up with the brand of tinned and bottled foods Heinz 57 Varieties it occurred to me that our antipodean readers might not be aware of the significance of the reference. So I decided to enlighten you and myself at the same time.

I have always assumed that the original Heinz brand produced 57 varieties of tinned/bottled foods. I also assumed that it was a British company. I was wrong on both counts.

Heinz 57 is a shortened form of an 1896 advertising slogan "57 Varieties of Pickles" by the H. J. Heinz Company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has come to mean anything that is made from a large number of parts or origins. It was developed from the marketing campaign that told consumers about the numerous pickle products available from the Heinz company.

The reason for "57" is unclear. Heinz said he chose "5" because it was his lucky number and the number "7" was his wife's lucky number. However, Heinz also said the number "7" was selected specifically because of the "psychological influence of that figure and of its enduring significance to people of all ages". Whatever the reasons, Heinz wanted the company to advertise the greatest number of choices of pickles. In fact by 1892, four years before the slogan was created, the Heinz company was already selling more than 60 products.

In Britain I would think that Heinz is best known for its baked beans. I didn't know until I looked for some pictures for this post that Heinz Baked Beans had been  re-branded as Heinz Beanz. So the Heinz tin showing the 57 very clearly has been relegated to less prominent type.

For my antipodean readers Heinz is branded as Watties in New Zealand (where it is a very large company) and as Heinz Watties in Australia.

Perfection

Why? Why does all our food have to be perfect? If I grow vegetables then I eat them in the form that they come out of the ground or off the plant, bush or tree. Supermarkets, on the other hand, insist on perfection. It may be bland or tasteless but at least the shape will be perfect. I was in a major supermarket a few days ago and I happened to see some lovely looking Hereford strawberries with the following label:

I bought a punnet:

Some of them were a bit misshapen but they were absolutely delicious. At a fraction of the price of the 'perfectly shaped' ones they tasted even better.

It made me wonder exactly why we demand perfection or whether it's just that supermarkets only provide perfection and that marketing is leading.

Either way I would love to know what price perfection adds to our food bills.

Amazon Reads Minds

We all know that with cookies etc set Amazon knows every thing that we have ever looked at on the Amazon website and tailors our Amazon home page and any marketing emails accordingly.

This morning I looked at Facebook on my phone and what did I see?

Now I'm sure you are wondering why on earth that should surprise me. The answer is that when I was with my Goddaughter and her partner and their young son (aged 2½) at the weekend  I mentioned that I'd taken young Catriona (at that time not yet a teenager) in NZ to see a film a few years ago but that I couldn't recall it's name but that, nonetheless I had actually enjoyed it. (Partly, I think, because it was my first 3D film experience since the days of the red and green glasses).  They went on line and produced a list of family films from that year and I immediately recognised the film: The Croods. I've certainly never mentioned it to Amazon though.

My dear brother commented that the Amazon appearance was scary on two counts: that Amazon could read minds and, more weirdly, that it was able to read my mind. It's a good job I love my brother.

Big Brother and Cookies

IF YOU READ THIS PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ MARK'S COMMENTS

Okay so we all know that if we have cookies enabled on our computers (if we use certain websites, including internet banking with some banks, then they cannot be used properly if cookies are not enabled)  then everything that we do on certain websites is logged and our history of use with the website can be used by the website's owner.  Amazon use cookies all the time to send a daily suggestion email which, oddly, yesterday reminded me about something I looked at a very long time ago and did nothing about (and still haven't).  However Lands End have obviously got a new marketing team in place at least for the UK.  Their marketing has been changed quite markedly but the least subtle change manifested itself a few minutes ago when I received an email:

On your recent visit to our website we noticed that you didn’t make a purchase...& we’d like to tempt you to try! It only takes a minute... We know you lead a busy life - but your latest purchase is only a click away. Our friendly advisors are on hand to offer technical help with every aspect of the website or simply a little style advice should you need it. We’re here if you need us: Call us on: 0844 700 70 70 Or e-mail us at:customercontact@landsend.co.uk Or if you‘ve got it covered, simply carry on shopping!

This morning I had received the usual daily sales email from the company and found the item it was pushing quite interesting.  I have no need of one but went to find out a bit more about it.  I didn't buy it.