There’s an advert that’s currently running on UK television for Knorr stock pots that’s been driving me slightly batty. In this ad, the celebrity chef Marco Pierre White extolls the virtues of Knorr’s new range of stock pots which are ‘made with real ingredients for a real meaty taste’. Now I am no culinary authority, but I do have a problem with ingredients that are described as ‘real’. Real in what sense?
What exactly are Knorr getting at here? I think they’re trying to imply that the boiled-up cow residue that’s in these pots is genuine, organic, non-chemical-based and wholesome. But ‘real’? A piece of mashed-up car tyre would be real, but probably not something I’d want in my foodstuffs. Anything which feasibly exists on the planet is real – but very few of them would be seen as complementary ingredients for a stock pot.
So, Knorr, if the ingredients truly are completely natural and organic, just say so. Calling them ‘real’ is not only misleading, but just plain lazy.
And before you say it, I know – don’t have a cow, man!
CommsBreakdown 
I couldn’t agree more Steve – there’s a lot of it about. Shouting ‘as opposed to “pretendy”…?’ at the TV works for me…
Cosmetics adverts are usually pretty bad for this sort of thing. Stuff like “Makes your skin 25% more lustrous” – as if you could have a percentage of how lustrous your skin looks. Bah!