French's has missed a trick here. If it really is 'America's Favourite Mustard', why not emphasise that by calling it 'America's Favorite Mustard'? I'm sure British shoppers would be able to cope.
Looks like French's has trademarked the phrase, too. I wonder if that's only for the British English spelling?
4 comments:
Looking at bottles of it here, it rather looks as if "America's Favorite" is the bit that's trademarked. Some bottles only have that much, and the others have it on two lines, "Mustard" below, with the TM after the Favorite, or don't TM it at all (they all TM "Classic Yellow").
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/07/0709_icons/image/french_s-(reckitt-b_871ea33.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2746958233_54d5691731.jpg
http://www.fantasyjackpalance.com/fjp/photos/misc/002/frenchs-mustard.jpg
This photo is oddly fascinating. I can't stop staring at it. It's like some kind of modern art. If I were ever in, say, New York and saw a sign that read, "Don't litter. Keep our pavements [not "sidewalks"] clean," it'd be the same thing. I'd stare and stare . . .
Anyway, if French's were supposed to be England's favorite mustard, you know we'd be playing it up over here: "England's Favourite Mustard." Oh, yeah. We'd be all over that. There'd be royal-looking, ornate packaging, with some kind of crown motif. And the TV commercials would feature actors with English accents. Because England = class.
Editrix, Grey Poupon is England's favorite mustard, doncha know? :-)
Unnecessary American mustard miscellany: Grey Poupon is an American dijon mustard whose ads featured chauffeured English gentlemen. Grey Poupon is based on a French mustard while French's is plainly American. A few years ago, some Americans were angry with the French. They started calling 'french fries' 'freedom fries' and boycotted French's mustard. Sheesh.
I have on my desk a box of Twinings tea, which I purchased twenty minutes ago at a grocery store in Morgantown, West Virginia. "Medium Flavour Strength" says the box. Seems that Twinings didn't take the route that French's did and delete that "u" in "flavour." I've said it before, and I'll say it again: England = class.
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