Think Global, Act Local ... (but very very carefully)

Last weeks action by WASH on salt levels has bigger implications than being yet another pressure group action against problem ingredients and their “users”.WASH, it stands for World Action on Salt and Health, identified foods from a number of prominent food manufacturers and food service operators, and published the salt levels in some of their products in different countries.They found, for example, that salt in Coco Pops was higher in Colombia than in Australia which was itself higher than in the UK. That a McDonalds Cheeseburger has 21% more salt in Australia than in the UK but that a KFC Twister in the UK had 34% more salt than in the same product in France. WASH PR has very successfully placed the findings in many newspapers and magazines around the world and now we can all read which products “our” country has “extra” salt in, and the perception is that its those bad manufacturers again.Maybe they are and then maybe again they’re not. I think that most companies were merely following that old dictum – Think Global, Act Local. We can probably all imagine the scenario. Brand X is International, but run by subsidiaries in each of its major countries. The local brand team is testing local taste preferences and discovers that in their country, consumers like it to taste saltier – so they adapt the recipe. Some time later medical research points to perceived dangers from too much salt in the national diet and Brand X again re-formulates and claims “now with less salt”. No problem, a responsible manufacturer acting in the best interests of their consumers. But that I think was then. Now consumers of Brand X compare their salt levels to those in other countries, but they don’t think “we like more salt here”, they think “what a bad manufacturer you are”Its time I think to re-work the old dictum, perhaps it should now be Think Global and Act Local, very very carefully because to rather misquote Marshall McLuhan the world really is a village now.