CRITICS of The National’s Union Jackery campaign have been left with red faces after new research conclusively proved that Saltire branding makes consumers vastly more likely to choose a product.
The study comes as a major boost to the Keep Scotland The Brand campaign.
Scots were asked which of two identical food items they would purchase, one with a UK flag and labelled “100% British product” and one with a Scottish flag labelled “100% Scottish product”.
A total of 56% picked the Scottish option, with only 4% choosing the British labelling. The remaining 39% said it would make no difference.
The research, using a representative sample of roughly 500 Scots, was carried out by Edinburgh-based consultancy 56 Degree Insight.
The firm said: “National identity is extremely high on the agenda of many Scots at the moment and, coinciding with the 10th year of Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight, we felt it was an ideal time to find out how Scots felt about food and drink branding some three years on from Tesco changing branding of their strawberries and replacing the Scottish saltire on the packaging with the Union flag.
“This provoked a lot of bad press for Tesco in Scotland, and other supermarkets such as Sainsbury were quick to point to their retention of the ‘Scottish branding’.”
Older consumers were the most likely to opt for Scottish – 66% of those aged 45-64 compared with 43% of the under 35s.
The younger group were not more likely to buy “British”, however. More were ambivalent, with 54% saying it would make no difference.
People living in Mid Scotland and Fife were most likely to go Scottish, at 69%.
The Borders and Dumfries & Galloway, with 13%, were the most likely to choose the “British” option, but 58% there still preferred the Saltire.
56 Degree Insights director Jim Eccleston said: “The research does tend to suggest that clear labelling of the Scottish roots of a product is significantly more likely to result in it being chosen and placed in a shopping basket in Scotland, than a similar product labelled ‘British’.
“This provides food for thought both for independent food producers in Scotland as well as the major supermarkets in terms of how they label and display their products.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel