Tag Archives: Down Under

Is that a Vegemite or an iSnack 2.0 sandwich, or are you just happy to see me?

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In one of the most bizarre marketing decisions – ever, even for Australia – Kraft Foods decided to name its second generation Vegemite the iSnack 2.0.

I first heard the term Vegemite near the beginning of the worst decade of music ever, in the 1981 song, Down Under, by Men at Work.???

Vegemite is made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty – somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter.

Helen Razer, a Melbourne writer, says in today’s (tomorrow’s) The Age, that the chief element in Vegemite’s new product is cream cheese. A secondary ingredient appears to be abject failure. No one likes the name of this new yeast product, except at least six Harvard MBAs at Kraft Foods who adore it.

The winning name was announced during the telecast of the AFL grand final. In an effort ”to align the new product with a younger market – and the ‘cool’ credentials of Apple’s iPod and iPhone” Kraft chose iSnack 2.0 from a field of 48,000.

This raises many questions. Chief among them is how very terrible were the other 47,999 competition submissions that Kraft was left with iSnack 2.0?

Razer says the label is every bit as hip as a polka convention and every bit as convincingly ”now” as parachute pants.

Sounds like the wardrobe for a 1981 video shoot.

Razer also says, on Monday, the global noticeboard Twitter was jammed with disgust. Comments that included ”I said do you speaka my language? She just smiled and gave me an iSnack 2.0 sandwich” and ”What’s the matter, was the name Crap Paste already trademarked?”

Food police targeting Vegemite?

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I first heard the term Vegemite near the beginning of the worst decade of music ever, in 1981’s hit, Down Under, by Men at Work.

He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.

What’s a Vegemite?

This was the old days – before public access Intertubes and Google and Wikipedia.

I’ve since learned, and wiki confirms, that Vegemite is made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty – somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter. It is not as intensely flavoured as British Marmite and it is less sweet than the New Zealand version of Marmite. Fred Walker’s company first created and sold Vegemite in 1922.

The New Zealand Herald reports if the Australian Government has its way, Vegemite could be banished from supermarket shelves because of its high salt content.

A preventive health task force, set up by Canberra to examine ways of tackling Australia’s obesity problem, has canvassed the idea of taxing foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Although its final report is not due until June, the Australian Food and Grocery Council is already warning that Vegemite is under threat.

The Australian online news website Crikey suggested the Vegemite controversy had been cooked up by the industry body as a pre-emptive strike.

Below, a fine example of just how bad popular music became in the 1980s. Oh, and did anyone catch the worst band ever, Journey, performing their 1981 – what a terrible year – power ballad, Don’t Stop Believin’ for Super Bowl tourists as part of the pre-game show in what could only be termed a tune-up for their upcoming State Fair extravaganza? And Springsteen sucked. He usually does.