“Fancy popping round for a quick parsnip?” For some reason, these ads have sprung up on the side of buses. An ad for coffee. Not an ad, you will notice, for any particular coffee. Nescafe is no long attacking us with Trinny and Susannah thrusting instant in our faces. But this is not a fair trade promo or corporate gig from Costa or Starbucks. Nope, it appears to be from the coffee marketing board.
What? Are we not drinking enough coffee or something? It strikes me that when every other business unit on the high street is a coffee shop and I know several people who physically cannot operate without the stuff, that coffee is doing fine. I could see Camp Chicory Essence making this kind of push. But coffee?
Still, the whole thing has been rather counter productive as I asked a young lady around for a parsnip just the other night. After the interlude I was told it looked more like an aubergine, but job done.