BS: Serving Suggestions

Subject: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:34 PM

Whenever a food packager puts a picture of a product on a package, if there is anything other than the product itself in the picture, there will always be a "Serving Suggestion" notice appended somewhere on the package. I understand what it means. It means that my box of Carr's Assorted Biscuits for Cheese is just the biscuits. The pretty pictures of canapes made from Carr's biscuits using various cheeses and other goodies are just ideas for what one can do with the things. The cheeses, tomato wedges and bean sprouts aren't in the box. Just biscuits.

What I want to know is who has such a low opinion of the human intellect that they feel it's necessary to tell us that the pictures are merely serving suggestions? Is it the packagers themselves, or the usual government bureucracy? Who is it that thinks the picture of a syrup-laden stack of pancakes on a syrup bottle needs a "serving suggestion" disclaimer so I won't think there are pancakes in the bottle too?

Somebody out there thinks we're idiots! Who is it?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Susu's Hubby
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:36 PM

......the democrats....;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:39 PM

Lowest common denominator and a litigitous society?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Bert
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:40 PM

It's the truth in advertising thingy. It was caused by manufacturers putting pictures of the food on the outside of the container that bore no relationship to the product inside.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:50 PM

I've seen pictures of beautiful women bringing steaming plates of food. I assume that that is a serving suggestion, but it doesn't say so.

Subject: Serving Suggestions
From: sixtieschick
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:51 PM

Hey, my publisher got sued once by a woman over a recipe in a cookbook for a casserole that you could make ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake. She claimed that it lacked the instruction to remove the plastic wrap from the casserole before placing it in the oven!

Yeah, people are idiots, and sometimes litigious ones at that.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:58 PM

Okay. If it's such a great idea, why not apply it to non-food items as well? If, say, a stocking maker puts photos of women with extremely attractive legs on their packages, don't they need to put a "wearing suggestion" disclaimer? Face it, 95% of women will not achieve the look being modeled by buying the product. How about cleaning products? I've seen pictures on cleaning supply bottles of floors so clean they sparkled. Well, I've cleaned a few floors, but sparkle has always eluded me. Don't those products need "cleaning suggestion" disclaimers?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:03 PM

I have always thought that TV Dinners should be forced to put a picture of the real product in its original container fresh from the microwave on the front.Big difference between the glop in the box and the carefully separated and presented items on the cover. Plus the portion is made to look huge by photographing it on a 4" plate. Before anyone says it...I know. It serves me right for buying that crap in the first place.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: JennyO
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:18 PM

I'm going to sue one of those floor cleaner product companies. I bought their stuff because I expected a nice new sparkling floor to be included, and it didn't work - I still have the rotten old lino in the kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: John O'L
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:19 PM

Well some of us are idiots. I mean, what would you do with a bottle of shampoo if it didn't have instructions on the side?
Seriously, would you have thought of washing your hair with it? Come on...

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:52 PM

Well, if it didn't say what to do with it, I'da drunk it. Probably would have shampooed with mouthwash.

What do illiterates do? Are you protected if you say "Serving Suggestion" and the person can't read?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 01:05 AM

Took me awhile to learn that the picture on the frozen dinner box did not represent a sample of what's inside - but rather the entirety. If you see four small shrimp and six peas "randomly" arranged on a pile of noodles, be assured that there are EXACTLY those four shrimp and six peas ONLY.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: GUEST,Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 05:42 AM

I guess that's why "food stylists" get paid $1500 US (or more) for eight hours on a photo shoot. They know how to fluff four ounces of mashed potatoes up to where they look like a small mountain. And, using the same ingredients that Burger King puts on your hamburger, they can make the archetype shown on the menu, which bears no earthly resemblance to what you were just served.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: GUEST,Layah
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 05:52 AM

I bought some syrup sponge pudding, and it had serving suggestion on the box. Normally that means they've added something not included. As far as I could tell, this serving suggestion consisted entirely of taking the product and putting it on a plate. Is this to warn me the plate was not included? At least it makes a little bit of sense when the picture adds fruit to cereal or soemthing like that, but when all they did was put it on a plate?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:58 AM

I'm sure there is a law that says that if any food appears in the illustration that is not in the box, they have to print "serving suggestion" somewhere. And I'm sure that if such a law didn't exist, some manufacturers would take full advantage of the opportunity to mislead us even more than they do now.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 09:07 AM

Campbell's soup used to "enhance" the photos of their soups by the use of marbles. Made the soups look like there was more substance than there was. When this came out there were jokes about "Campbell's Cream Of Marbles" soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Crystal
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 09:13 AM

What always annoys me is that the pictures on the packaging are always so perfect, not broken, misshapen or burnt! Also they are always beutifully sliced when in reality you show whatever it is a knife and it explodes! I'm guessing they use wax food for the pictures.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Layah
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 09:25 AM

I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to use wax food. Campells got in trouble for doing the marble thing. Today I bought some sorbet, and there is a picture of a spoonful of it, and it says "serving suggestion" Just a suggestion that you use a spoon. But really you could use your hands if you want.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 10:30 AM

Anybody think there might be a significant US/UK/Mainland Europe diffence here? Other than the local lawyer:idiot ratio, that is...

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: Layah
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 11:15 AM

Well, from my own experience US and UK both tend to put "serving suggestion" on the packages the same amount in the same situations. Mainland Europe packages are not in any of the languages I have studied, and therefore I don't know what they might say.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: RangerSteve
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 03:03 AM

My father explained the "Serving SUggestion" phrase to me a while ago. Apparently, there really are people who think that if the product is shown on a silver platter, that the platter is included in the package. Some companies have been sued over this. These days, this shouldn't be surprising.

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: GUEST,foolestroupe - "I come fru da window!"
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 06:17 AM

Japanese & Chinese Restaurants often have beautiful works of art in their windows which are plastic facsimiles of their dishes - made professionally.

I really like the Sushi ones.

Anybody have a link to one of these companies?

Subject: RE: BS: Serving Suggestions
From: GUEST,JennyO
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 09:37 AM

This thread reminded me of one of my favourite Twilight Zone episodes from the past - called "To Serve Man". Turned out to be a cookbook. I wonder what the serving suggestions on that would have been!

Jenny