Shoppers ‘are being fed waffle’
A language watchdog is urging supermarkets to ditch the "gobble-gobbledegook" being fed to Christmas shoppers.
According to the Plain English Campaign (PEC), shoppers come face-to-face with "pointless and meaningless waffle" in food advertising which gives no help in deciding what to buy.
After examining descriptions of supermarket chickens and eggs, campaign officials have criticised the way food is described and said it no longer helps consumers.
A spokeswoman for the PEC said: "The language used to describe food has become comical and the consumer pays for it.
"Much of it is gobbledegook – the appropriate term is probably ‘gobble-gobbledegook’ given the season."
The PEC found descriptions relating to "all butter mince pies" and chickens which lived in "small mobile arks", but it said it did not understand what any of it meant.
The spokeswoman said: "What does any of it mean and how does it help people make decisions about which food to buy for Christmas? What on earth is a ‘small mobile ark’ and how can a mince pie be ‘all butter’?"
She added: "Food can’t be just food anymore. We have to be given the impression it’s ‘more than just food’. It’s not an egg – it’s an egg laid by a hen which had ‘freedom to roam in barns and a cereal-based diet’."
Copyright © Press Association 2008
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