The Real Deal

 Can Fonterra Prove Up?

The bureaucrats and tourism industry big-wallahs dreamed up a marketing slogan for New Zealand Inc: "One Hundred Percent Pure".  Wow.  That sounded good.  Perception is reality to narcissistic marketers.  So the slogan became a mantra.  It was a most stupid move.

The slogan could only be taken seriously if it were regarded as hyperbole.  If it were a mere exaggeration for effect, no-one could complain.  But as a statement of a literal standard one has to live up to it is an impossible millstone around the neck.  The brute reality is that no-one and nothing in this life is one hundred percent pure (whatever that might mean).  Experimental chemists, working in the cleanest laboratory environments able to be achieved, are not infrequently frustrated by impurities messing up experiments.  No "100% Pure" there.  And if not there, not anywhere.  Certainly not when it comes to agricultural products, such as milk. 

When it comes to the marketing slogan, "NZ--100% Pure" we are guilty of engaging in deceptive and misleading behaviour.  There will always be markets, customers, and general idiots to take the slogan as literal truth, not hyperbole.  We have created a rod for our own backs and our stupidity is justly punished every time the rod whips through the air.

Stupid slogans aside, it is worthwhile considering the broader context of the Fonterra botulism scandal.