Archive for August, 2009
Asda rolls back the cliches for Yorkshire Day
So I’m guessing that Asda didn’t get a Yorkshire agency to write their Yorkshire Day ad in today’s Yorkshire Post newspaper…
The copy reads:
The flat caps, the whippets, the brass bands playing. The smoking chimneys from real coal fires. The cobbled streets. The dry stone walls. The unspoilt beauty of The Dales. Chips wi’ bits and fizzy pop on t’way home. Beef dripping on bread and a pint of hand-pulled real ale. The curves of a Henry Moore, the colours of a David Hockney and the fast bowl of a Fred Trueman. A proper cup o’tea with proper biccies. The neighbours that wave from across the street. The postman that knows your first name. The tastiest grub. The friendliest folk. And of course, Yorkshire’s proudest supermarket that saves you brass everyday.
Asda. Yorkshire born and bred.
I have so many problems with this copy I hardly know where to start.
Mentioning flat caps and whippets goes down as well with Yorkshire folk as sheep jokes do with the Welsh.
As a Yorkshire lass born, bred and still living here I hope I live up to our reputation for neighborliness and friendliness, but whoever wrote this has obviously been watching too much Last of the Summer Wine or All Creatures Great And Small.
The copy can’t seen to decide whether its reminiscing about The Good Old Days, celebrating that Yorkshire values are still going strong today or embracing the new Yorkshire of art and commerce.
Oh, and while Asda may have its roots in Yorkshire and head office in Leeds, it is owned by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, headquartered in Arkansas USA, 4346 miles from Yorkshire.
