Thursday, March 22, 2012

Is This The End Of The World Down Under?

The way the media's beating this drum, you'd think Harold Camping had finally got it right!
Australasia borders on all-out Marmite crisis!
Fans urged to start rationing Marmite!
Marmite fans stockpiling supplies!
It's Marmageddon! WTF???!!!
The dark yeasty spread has been out of production since Sanitarium closed its Christchurch production plant last November following earthquake damage. This plant singlehandedly keeps all Oz and NZ Marmite fans satisfied, churning out about 640,000kg of Marmite annually. But this week, the very last remaining stocks were distributed and, once sold, there'll be no more Marmite until at least July.
Reaction? Traders are cashing in, asking as much as $800 for an unopened 250g jar of Marmite on Trade Me! News of the temporary demise is wildfire through social networking sites. Established Facebook pages, both pro- and anti-Marmite, are gaining thousands more followers. The story's gone global, with UK newspapers The Guardian and the Daily Mail both reporting on NZ's supposedly shocked (oh really?) reaction to the shortage. 
Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden is urging customers not to panic: "We will be back with Marmite, manufactured in NZ, and it will be the same product, so there's no need to panic...this is just a short-term hiccup." He's confident this won't push desperate customers to buy rival spread, Vegemite (made by Kraft): "Our experience has been that if you eat Marmite, you don't eat the other spreads and you really love the Marmite you've grown up with."
I'm personally a Vegemite fan (Marmite's taste is too sharp for me) but if you need an incentive to change, consider THIS! >

PS: 27 March 2012 - At the supermarket, I saw the empty Marmite shelves filled with an import called MightyMite! The label says it's in its 10th year of production, is 100% Oz-owned and -made! Ever heard of it? We'll probably never see it again, once Marmite returns!
PS: 30 March 2012 - OMG, this is getting absurd! Sanitarium is about to run tv ads, featuring ex-ABs coach Graham Henry, urging koiwois not to panic over Marmite shortage!!! Get a life!!
PS: 19 June 2012 - The wait is now even longer!

1 comment:

Melissa said...

I can only IMAGINE how the media will report the Marmite resupply. It'll be like the Second Coming!!!
Harold Camping, all is forgiven.