Jodi on 
Erin on 
Eric on 
Bill Evans on 
Disclosure: I was invited to a food bloggers’ event and focus group-type sessions in Toronto last week by a marketing company representing Hellmann’s. They paid for all expenses, including airfare, hotel and meals, over one weekend. There was no obligation or contract required of me to write about it.
There we were, eight food bloggers from across Canada. Our only initial, shared characteristic was a passion for food, and an unhealthy addiction to blogging. We sat in a conference room of a Toronto hotel wondering what Hellmann’s mayonnaise had to do with local food and why the company owned by Unilever had flown us all here.
I mean, we had an idea based on phone calls and emails with the marketing company that made us curious enough to agree to the trip. But there were still many questions to be answered.
Over two days, we learned about Hellmann’s benevolent, yet risky, new campaign. Eat Real, Eat Local is a call to Canadians to eat food grown at home, and to support local producers.
It’s a catalyst to getting people to think about how far strawberries have to travel, for example, to get to our plates in the middle of winter, and to raising discussions over how buying locally grown food sustains our own economy and environment.
All timely and worthy topics. As one participant said, “It’s like asking people to support world peace.”
What’s in it for Hellmann’s?
So what’s this got to do with mayonnaise? There’s a tangible link in that Hellmann’s is made with real eggs from Burnbrae Farms in Ontario and Quebec, and with canola oil from the Prairies.
But Hellmann’s and its marketing partners are trying something bold. And for someone like me fascinated with media, it’s an interesting initiative.
They’re essentially trying to associate their brand with a lifestyle. It’s less about pushing the Hellmann’s label into your face, and more about putting money and effort behind an admirable issue. And they want people talking about it, which is why they wanted to brief food bloggers about what they’re doing.
If it works, local producers will get a boost, and people will be thinking more about what they’re buying and eating, and Hellmann’s will get some of the credit, which I’m sure they hope translates into brand loyalty and market share.
But the campaign is risky in terms of traditional advertising because the Hellmann’s brand isn’t necessarily stamped on everything. So it could be spending a lot of money for little to no name recognition.
Show me the money
Whether it’s sincerity or smart marketing, the Eat Real, Eat Local campaign has several encouraging components.
For every “action” that someone pledges to do on its website — “I commit that I will prepare, buy and eat more local food” — Hellmann’s will donate 25 cents to Evergreen, a non-profit group that creates urban gardens across Canada and runs Brick Works in Toronto.
Every time someone uses the hash tag #realfood to talk about local food on Twitter (including retweets), there will be another 25 cent donation.
Most of the time, our choices are limited to what’s offered at the grocery store. To that end, the website is collecting signatures asking a store to carry more local products. Once the signatures reach a certain threshold, Hellmann’s will send a letter under its letterhead to an individual supermarket.
Who cares?
Hellmann’s commissioned a survey of more than 2,200 Canadians in February and March that held some surprising (well, to me) results. The numbers collected by Harris-Decima were released today.
Almost nine out of 10 Canadians (86 per cent) said they prefer to eat locally sourced foods. But the definition of local food ranged from “a farmer’s market” and “my backyard” to “my province” and “from Canada.” Sixty per cent said they consider packaged goods made with Canadian ingredients to be local food.
Respondents also seemed to be way more concerned about food origins that I would have guessed:
- 71 per cent said they read labels and packages to see where the food is produced.
- 68 per cent said they always pay attention to the origins of the food they eat.
- 77 per cent said they’re willing to spend more on a locally produced item versus something similar that’s been imported from another country.
The bottom line
Here’s my bottom line: what can it hurt? With governments slashing budgets and wealth spread increasingly among the few, if a multinational subsidiary wants to step up and try something different that may change the way we eat, possibly for the better, then I say why not?
And if it stirs up discussion and debate and engagement, then even better.
What do you think? What’s your definition of local food? Would you pay more for it?
Are you aware of how much food Canada imports from other countries? Or is it all just too complicated to think about in day-to-day life?
I still can’t get over how much we import, even after all the info this weekend. And I would definitely pay more for local, of course it depends just how much more.
We read labels out of necessety. GF issues. We are aware what we buy because of that. Geographical origins as well as additives.
And I just checked which brand of Mayo is in our fridge. Hellmann’s. I think they do have a massive market share in the Mayo market.
Frequently, when we prepare dishes that ask for Mayo (not school lunches), I do still make Mayo from scratch. You just can’t beat that taste.
If all (multi) nationals would put that effort into local food origins, we might get somewhere?
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I’ve seen their commercials on TV and thought it was a risky move too. Definitely gets people talking, but at the same time my first thought when I heard the campaign was “If I really wanted to go local, then why would I buy jarred mayo instead of making it myself from local farmer’s eggs?”
Buying local isn’t the same thing as buying something that has Canadian ingredients. Hellmann’s definitely doesn’t fall under the 100 mile concept and to me, that is closer to what it means to buy local.
fantastic…
At first I was a little annoyed… seems everyone wants to profit off the better choices we’re making for food – and the earth in general. But this seems to actually pass off as authentic. It will be large corporate companies like this that really help to make change. it’s rather unfortunate – but that’s the way we roll as a society. So keep it rollin’!
Hellmans said it themselves – or at least you paraphrased – that they are trying to create a lifestyle brand. And that’s what eating local is, to a certain extent, a lifestyle. I didn’t initially think this way, but Hubby and I have been talking about it a lot lately. The decision we’ve made to eat local (AB first, then Canadian) is important to us, but we recognize that we can, for the most part, afford the time and money it costs. Outside of middle class desires, not many other can. it is, therefore, a bit of a luxury. This doesn’t diminish the importance of it, nor the lessons involved for our children. Still a luxury, and one I hope we can afford to maintain for a long time.
Is no one but me incredibly turned off by this campaign? That Hellman’s is so transparently attempting to associate itself with the local food movement (which thus far has been relatively untainted by corporate interests) leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I find Hellman’s insulting my intelligence in the same way beer companies do when they show girls in bikini draped across average looking joes, and in the same way I imagine women feel when they see Dove blatantly attempt to appeal to their insecurities.
It is laughable that a global mega-conglomerate who is mass-producing mayonnaise in a way that is perfectly diametrally opposed to the concept of locally-produced food (eggs from Ontario/Quebec and oil from the prairies?!) is attempting this. Sometimes I wonder if bored marketers are attempting to see how far they can push the boundaries of branding. Hey if it’s working, all the power to them I guess….
I see these things saying that Loblaws has “local” food, but really it’s from anywhere in Ontario so I don’t know if it’s from Dryden, North Bay or Ottawa…that’s still not “local” to me. I love going to the Byward Market in Ottawa and getting fresh “local” vegetables. It is more expensive but it is sooo worth it. It lasts longer because it was picked either that morning or the day before and the taste is so much better. Because even if it’s coming to a grocery store from Ontario it can still be picked one day, sit for another day or two in a warehouse, take another day to get to the store and then another one to get on the floor. That is why onions are covered in so much dry skin. Have you ever bought a fresh one from the market? You don’t even have to peel any layers off! Such a difference! All this to say I still don’t always eat as local as I should but it’s not as readily available as I would like. I support a program that helps out with that!
[...] you think of Hellman’s mayo as local? [...]
Great post. I think you summarized the issues really well.
My comment for Chris (in the comments above) is this: if Hellman’s doesn’t step forward to help bring the issue of local eating into the mainstream who will? Corporate Canada needs to get involved in this kind of thing otherwise the message just won’t make it out to the average Joe.
andrea from the fishbowl; these were my thoughts exactly. i love to see the corporate canada put money behind important social issues. they have all of ours. and i loved seeing twenty foot billboards with normal woman and girls thank you dove! as well i do use hellmans because of its ingredients, i read labels and try to eat locally,but oranges are so good!
[...] “Eat real, eat local” at Are you gonna eat that [...]
“the Hellmann’s brand isn’t necessarily stamped on everything.”
Can you provide any examples of this? Everything I’ve seen so far has been stamped.
Hi Andrew! The TV spots def have the Hellmann’s logo on them, but I was interested to see that the website associated with the campaign doesn’t have Hellmann’s in the URL, and that the hashtag chosen to trigger donations to Evergreen is #realfood — and not #hellmans.
Okay, so they could possibly put their logo in more places, but then again, so could Pepsi. The eatrealeatlocal website definitely reminds you that it’s Hellmann’s from the start, and all the recipes on the site (well, every single one I checked, even pizza) contain a Hellmann’s product.
Make no mistake, this is not the real food movement; this is the real food movement watered down for Hellmann’s convenience. Any true advocate of “real food” would encourage you not to buy (or at least to buy less often) GMO products, not to buy products with chemically manufactured preservatives (calcium disodium EDTA anyone?), and to prepare more of your own food stuffs that you might normally buy (mayonnaise is painfully easy to make). You will never get this information from Hellmann’s, but it’s critical to concept of “real food”. As such, I’m firmly against this campaign. The message is good, the messenger (Hellmann’s, not you; you I got nothing against) is deceptive.
Thanks for the response!
Hey Andrew! Thanks for your thoughts; good points and discussion. I too had a problem with the recipes all including Hellmann’s mayonnaise as an ingredient. (Of the thousands of cake recipes, we really need one with mayonnaise in it?)
First of all, I attended a women in business conference with Ben Barry, the Canadian mastermind behind Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign, as the main speaker, so I’ve had a front-row seat at the journey he’s been through as a business man as well as a social catalyst.
And while it also makes me a little suspicious over the corporate angle, and I wish people were more educated and conscientious about their life choices, I agree with the reality that in order to provoke further and faster social change, that businesses need to actively get behind certain causes. Grassroots can only go so far without the occasional big conglomerate nodding their head in agreement. It’s the classic “Vote with your dollar.” The more industries see traction with campaigns like these, the more they are likely to do things like source their ingredients more locally because it’s become a profitable and economically viable option for them.
For example, the current capitalization of the green movement annoys me, but I welcome the influx of discussion and debate that the large scale campaigns are bringing. And hopefully open eyes of a few new people instead of preaching to the converted.
Look at us. One blog post. 16 comments later.
Hellmann’s good intentions would be a lot more believable were they not — at the same time — forcing an unwanted conversion from glass to plastic jars down the throats of their customers. Worried about our health? Hardly? Our last serving of Hellmann’s was coated with shreds of blue plastic! Welcoming customer involvement in choices regarding their food? Excuse me, where is that? I wonder if your plastic jars are sourced locally? Even Heinz, in moving to plastic, has continued to provide one glass jar choice, so that their customers have at least a limited continued choice in decision-making. Sorry, Hellmann’s, your “healthy” concern for your customers rings hollow. Your cavalier move to plastic jars shows utter disregard for the health of your customers and a hypocritical lack of commitment to customer choice and respect. We really do wish you would reconsider your un-green, unhealthy, and unwelcome switch to plastic jars, and become truly committed to the well-being of your loyal customers. You were a company we believed in, providing a quality product to which we were loyally committed for 30 years. Now, we can only resent your one-sided actions and patronize your competitors, who really DO produce an inferior product, but offer it in a glass jar. That somehow makes us feel even more resentful.
I think farmers should be able to sell their produce at festivals and community events – especially events like Canada Day. Why not include and celebrate the foods that actually grow here? They are always complaining about how nutritionally poor the average Canadian’s diet is, but how many events have you been to that actually sold real food? Why not have a fruit stand (apples, peaches, berries etc) along with the places that sell the french fries and soft ice cream? Perhaps people would choose better fast foods if they were readily available at the event. Also, what about advertising food festivals across the provinces by having a presence in other areas? For instance, why not have a booth at the Lilac Festival, advertising and selling corn also available at the upcoming Taber Corn Festival? Personally, I think more could be done to promote nutritional eating and locally grown foods.
I was really suprised that there were no bread recipes for Saskatchewan. They grow a lot of wheat, barley, oats, and rye, and ship it all over the world. Also if you’ve ever travelled to Germany, or the Ukraine, etc. you’d be amazed at all the varieties of breads and how absolutely delicious they are! Hellman’s should add a link or have some of those recipes on this site – I like a little mayo on my sandwiches.
[...] This has been out for awhile now, so I’m a bit late. I don’t like that it’s from the makers of fatty, high-cholesterol mayo. But the message is spot on and well explained. I actually signed up to get a free pair of gardening gloves and a packet of carrot seeds from Hellmann’s in May. (Actually, I just wanted the gloves). I didn’t pay much attention as to why they were doing the freebie at the time, but in retrospect it probably had something to do with this video. Go figure. The whole marketing campaign is dissected over at Are you gonna eat that?. [...]
The misleading flaw in the Hellman’s video is it overlooks the law of comparative advantage, which is what the agriculture system is based on. Eg: Canada COULD produce more broccoli if it wanted to but it makes more sense for us to use the land, farming resources etc we could use for broccoli to produce more wheat instead.We are extremely good at that and way better than most, producing almost four times what we use. Other countries just can’t produce wheat as efficiently as us. Another eg: It also makes more sense for us use the land and farming resources we COULD use to produce strawberries to produce canola instead. We produce over 20% of the world’s canola – many hundreds of percent more than we use. The law of comparative advantage is that we all have more of everything if we all produce most, what we produce best. — And let’s face it, Hellman’s would have a lot more credibility here if it used local whole eggs in making its Mayo (as its parent company does in the USA) instead of global mass marketed “liquid eggs”. But that’s all just me being a devil’s advocate
[...] Posted By: The Real Food Movement May 28, 2009 Real Food conversations from around the web. Over on Are You Gonna Eat That, there is a great list of food-related blogs all weighing in. Check out the post here | [...]