The Anti-Seed movement

Today I had another "only in France" moment. Grocery shopping, I decided to branch out of my usual fruit preferences and get some grapes. The only seedless ones they had were green (I'm a purple-red grape person) but I weighed flavor vs. convenience and convenience won. As I was unloading my groceries at home, I took a closer look at the clamshell packaging, and more importantly, the brand image. Take a peek for yourself, what do you see?

Ah yes. Hence the "only in France" moment. If you still don't get it, let's compare it to some typical American fruit packaging:

Basic and clearly labeled, with a sun as a nice touch:
More creative, in which the product is itself a part of the brand image/logo (the tomatoes appear to be singing/dancing in a chorus line, probably a happy, friendly bunch):

And let's go back to the French label...a disgruntled owl & lion PROTESTING in the streets against seeds. Right. The details in the posters are key: the written one is lyrical "PAS DE PEPINS DANS NOS RAISINS" (No seeds in our grapes!), and the owl is holding a poster which depicts a seed with a big red X over it. Classic. Now I'm sure that there are many examples of brands which play up images of a typical American (think old school Wheaties boxes). But HELLO here the two characters (Rik & Rok - the generic Auchan brand geared towards kids) are PROTESTERS demonstrating against SEEDS in grapes! Is this not even funnier in light of recent circumstances?! I know I've brought other products in the Rik & Rok line, and I don't remember them protesting as part of the packaging (admittedly, it was candy or generic haribos...Yes to sugar, no to Sweet n' lo, perhaps?). I guess someone in the Auchan product development section has an anti-seed agenda on the table.

tags: Ah, France, grub, USA, shopping