There must be a rush from food advertisers this past week fleeing from "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," no doubt from the words exchanged at the beginning of the previous episode.
We saw only food-related ad, a repeat of the Splenda ad. The theme, if you don't remember, was consuming 9 teaspoons of Splenda could save you 100 calories a day and 10 pounds a year. of course, 9 teaspoons of sugar saves you more than 100 calories.
On the slim chance that you might think adding an artificial sweetener will make that much of a difference, we point out their own disclaimer: "Physical activity, a healthy diet and calorie reduction are important parts of any weight loss program." Yes, you have to do more than sub out 9 teaspoons a sugar.
So we devote the rest of the column to the huge, dare we say, giant presence within the show. The Green Giant was huge in the cooking contest.
Jamie Oliver told us that the company was responsible for funding the cooking contest, which seemed rather pointless in the first place.
This is no longer subtle product placements. This is Jamie Oliver shilling for Green Giant.
There were three judges for the cooking contest, two famous chefs (Jonathan Waxman and Michael Simon) and Andy Dahlen from Green Giant. So what is Dahlen's expertise in this battle? Former chef? Food expert? Uh, no, Dahlen is Green Giant's marketing director. Wow!
Of course, the one area of expertise Dahlen has over two prominent chefs is exposure to Green Giant products, which is fortunate for him because as Jamie puts it, "You need to use at least one Green Giant dish in your meal."
We have learned that when there is an audio change in the program, necessary words have been added it at the last minute. "There's great prizes" has a lower pitch and a "let's go into the studio at the last minute to record this." Maybe Jamie forced Green Giant to actually pay out more for its advertising buck. [In Season 1, Jamie added a disclaimer that chicken nuggets in the U.S. weren't prepared in the way he showed the kids.]
While the kids are cooking in the first round, Jamie adds another pitch for the sponsor. "One Green Giant product, at least."
When the professional chefs ask Dahlen to weigh in, he does have a sense of presentation — because he has eyes. Again, ⅓ of the judges have no significant experience in judging this food.
And Green Giant can't be thrilled to see the dishes had very little impact from their food. In fact, some of the dishes must have pureed the frozen veggies since they were not visible. Still, you have to imagine that the company still came out on top since they got extensive exposure on national TV and had the leader of the Food Revolution talk about their food as if it mattered.
Jamie wasn't done yet. He was back shilling for the Green Giant products before the second and final round. "This kind of stuff, you know, whether it's the spinach and the broccoli -- this is a perfect way to have fresh veg all the time in your freezer, okay." While Jamie is speaking, he is holding up the bags for the camera."
In the segment, Jamie points out that they have 15 minutes to prep the students on ingredients they've never seen. Yet in that time, Jamie has to shoot a commercial as well. At least the other mentors aren't stuck shilling for frozen vegetables.
Green Giant also had signs along the fence, capturing multiple times by the cameras.
In the second round, you see the kids working fresh spinach. So either they worked with the fresh stuff, ignored the fresh stuff to use the Green Giant, or a bit of both. Odd anyway you look at it.
We argued yesterday that there were a number of legitimate reasons why Jamie's school won the competition. But when a major sponsor that got really special treatment has ⅓ of the vote in a contest that is won by the kids from the host's school, this looks bad.
We aren't saying there was a quid pro quo. But when you have a clearly unqualified person in a judging panel has a stake in who wins, there is an integrity loss that goes beyond an in-show ad.
Unless Jamie Oliver and his many executive producers begged Green Giant to have a judge on its panel, then Green Giant crossed yet more unethical lines. While there are many who says bad publicity is better than no publicity, Jamie Oliver, Ryan Seacrest Productions, ABC, and Green Giant should rethink this approach should there be a Food Revolution Season 3.
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