I saw an advert on TV for Asda the other day advertising sausages.
The images of the packaging in the top left of the screen showed Scottish and British sausages (including Scottish Lincolnshire sausages – isn’t Lincolnshire in England?).
I’ve emailed Asda asking if they could please explain where the “British” sausages are from and why they are labelled as British sausages whilst Scottish sausages are labelled as Scottish.
We already know the answer, of course, but you might like to do the same by contacting them through their website.
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I’ve left a comment on the section of the ASDA website that asks what local produce customers would like to see in the stores. It wasn’t acknlowledged so I will have to check back and see if it appears.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am[...] protected status for Lincolnshire sausages it seems. From the Campaign for an English Parliament. I saw an advert on TV for Asda the other day advertising [...]
August 31st, 2009 at 12:22 pmConsumers need to start voting with their feet. While they keep buying mislabelled and ambiguous products supermarkets will keep supplying them. The labelling laws in our great county are totally flawed. I can rear a lump of pork somewhere with the lowest welfare standards, wrap it in cling film in the UK and call it British.
But until people starting caring they will keep buying rubbish!
SK
September 1st, 2009 at 6:30 pmI used the link to contact them. I think you will be interested in the answer i recieved. I’ve not finished with them yet !!
Thank you for your message.
Hi Mr. Dagger,
Thank you for contacting ASDA recently.
I can understand your concerns regarding the flag printed on English produce being the union flag unlike in Wales and Scotland where they have their national flag displayed. Unfortunately the flag of St. George has nowadays taken on many connotations and as ASDA would not want to be assostiated with some of those we have to remain impartial.
Please contact us again should you require any further assistance.
If you need to reply back to this email, please use the following link http://www.about-asda.com/contact-us.asp Could you please quote the reference number which is in the ’subject field.’ This will help us to deal with your response quickly and efficiently.
Kind Regards,
David Thrower
ASDA Service Team
—-Your Original Comments Were—-
Your Asda email contact form submission
Submitted: Sun Aug 30 07:19:28 UTC 2009
From: Mr.A.D.Dagger *
Email: daggsat@aol.com
Telephone:
Subject: Policy
Store Name: All
Enquiry:
September 7th, 2009 at 6:50 pmWould someone be good enough to explain, no justify, Asda’s discriminatory policy regarding flags on produce.
You know what i mean don’t you?
Scottish produce, Scottish flag.
Welsh produce, Welsh flag.
English produce, Union flag !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The flag of England is the Cross of St George. In this time of devolution, it’s time for you to recognise England and English produce and
Daggs, that’s unbelievable! How dare they insult our country.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:08 pmI’ll be responding to them tomorrow. I was so annoyed by their response, i thought it best to take 24hrs out and cooldown.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:14 pmYes those nasty connotations with… English people! – yuck!
September 7th, 2009 at 10:16 pmI fired off a further communication this morning. I’ll report back on any developments.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:52 amI’ve just sent this to ASDA:
I understand that it is your policy not to include the English flag on your English products although you do use the Scottish and Welsh flags on your Scottish and Welsh products.
The reason given is that ASDA believe that the English flag has taken on ‘certain connotations’ and that you do not wish to be associated with them.
This is a racist slur against the people of England and I demand an explanation. Perhaps if you are so unhappy you should close all your ASDA stores in England?
September 8th, 2009 at 9:16 amIf I were you, I’d forward that on to the media. The Daily Mail love this kind of thing! A bit of bad publicity is normally enough to make them back down.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:02 amHi,
Sorry – this is certainly not our policy so thanks for flagging it up.
Although we carry the Cross of St George on a number of our products, including a range of Asda English cheeses, we don’t adopt it on everything.
Rightly or wrongly customers living in England tell us that they are happy for the Union flag to be used on ASDA products that have been produced or sourced from within England.
However our customers in Scotland and Wales prefer their own national flag in preference to the Union flag.
At ASDA we have led the way in helping reclaim the Cross of St George on behalf of our English customers. During major sporting tournaments in recent years we have sold millions of English flags, and as a result the Cross of St George has been draped from cars and houses across the length and breadth of the country. We look forward to England qualifying for next year’s World Cup so we can repeat the exercise once more.
Apologies again for mucking up. Needless to say, the person who sent the offending email will not do that again!
September 8th, 2009 at 1:11 pm[...] Comments Suthrige on It Asda be a mistake, surely?Daggs on It Asda be a mistake, surely?Matt on It Asda be a mistake, surely?Daggs on It Asda be a [...]
September 8th, 2009 at 1:43 pmAsda have given us a statement – click here.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:44 pm