As Ever #3 As If

[PrettyFlyforaMaiTai]

Another thread to discuss the rebranding of ARO and the merchandising of With Love, Meghan

Part 2: www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/5278062-as-ever-2-whatever

I'm with you on that @Serenster ! Granted I wasn't fully barefoot but was wearing very open sandals... I dropped my solid wood full coverage hob cover on my foot!! I couldn't walk for at least a week !

Nothing wreaks elevating the ordinary than a pre package mixed pancake than a drizzle of honey from the highest height possible, dancing with delight at the outcome whilst ignoring the added cost to the environment.

To be fair the elevated honey was on a croissant!!!
But if Meghan made them I will eat my hat!!🤣

Totally agree. The science is part of the fun of it. My DS is doing a baking course for his D of E award, and a lot of the course covers these scientific and organisational aspects - eg, how eggs will react to air at different temperatures, so get organised and make sure they are room temperature before you bake! It's a basic course, but he's doing things far more complex than pancakes, which any sub-10 year old Brownie or Cub knows how to make on a camping stove.

I can't wait for Spectre8's vociferous defence of the elevated honey .... 3,2,1..

Good point. It’s a workplace. Generally your insurance will mandate that you don’t have bare feet in a workplace due to the risk of injury.

My mum's Welsh Cake recipe (parents were from the Rhondda Valley). Sorry it's in Imperial measurements:
8oz S-R flour
3oz marge/butter
3oz caster sugar
3oz currants
1 egg
Little milk
Pinch salt

Beat egg.
Rub in butter, salt and flour.
Stir in currants and sugar.
Add egg and sufficient milk to make a stiff paste.
Roll out onto floured board and cut with pastry cutter. (Maybe1cm thick?)
Cook on a hot bake stone until brown each side.
Sprinkle with caster sugar while hot.

Back on topic. I don't have any moral or dietary problems with packet mixes but brand-wise that was a stupid move and once again, speaks to the confusing, unfocussed nature of the As Ever brand.

The initial brand roll-out visuals strongly suggested aspirational brand values: organic, locally sourced food,beautiful presentation, health and wellness.

Packet mixes brings it very downmarket - sure, there's a huge market for time-poor cash-poor consumers, and lots of influencers who operate in that space, but is that really what Meghan is going for and how does that fit with the aspirational visuals and aesthetic?

It's mutually contradictory: packet mix suggests Meghan's going for the time poor cash strapped Midwestern Mom, but what time poor cash strapped Midwestern Mom will connect with bee-keeping and elaborately decorate party favors?

Now it could be that part of the show will be about baking with young children, and in that case packet mixes make sense (although do we really believe that Meghan can't afford a cleaner to deal with the kid-created flour mess?), but it's hard to pursue this theme without featuring their kids, which Meghan strongly informed Oprah that she would never do.

Again, this all points for me to WME not being involved with Meghan's personal brand anymore.

In the video she isn't cooking barefoot. She is just in the kitchen.

I agree with you Puzzled.
Their supporters want us to believe that they are thriving and absolutely living their best life. And yet…..!

Meghan's hair is very close to the foccaccia dough in the 'With love, Mehan' trailer.

Will just add! My occasional purchase of fancy cake mix aside!
Pancake mix is such a waste of time !!
It basically a small bag of flour!
Price wise it actually costs more than a small bag of flour if you work out how many grams it is!

The focaccia looks terrible once it's cooked too. Not going to spread much joy or elevate any occasion.

Ooh, good point. Where is the risk assessment? I have to do these all the time for cooking related tasks. Bare feet in any situation where someone other than just you is present, and could be hurt, is an absolute no.

The price point for these mixes will be interesting. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s a standard mix, in a fancy box that costs an unreasonable amount of money.

Well yes it is since it costs £1. Where can you buy flour eggs and milk for £1? M&S isn't always expensive.

At least Pamela Anderson's show has an interesting and current USP, being vegan.

@Spectre8 Fair point - I hadn't considered not having the ingredients in. We do often have flour for non pancake purposes and we do pretty much always have milk and eggs. Fair point , though , which I happily take on the chin 😊.

edited for username spelling

But M is the Barefoot Duchessa … I mean, no-one else has ever done a cooking and lifestyle show like that ever before in an aspirational location like Montecito or the Hamptons, have they? This is ALL NEW.

'Deck' seems to be the hipster word for 'slide presentation. It's a bit annoying 🙄

The huggy, hippy, kind, barefoot persona is so at odds with those text messages upthread, terse, impersonal, grand, rude, direct.

Is Pamela filming in her own home?

400g American Pancake mix from M&S is £2.50 (makes 12) on Ocado. Just add water. Full of additives. Only cheaper than buying a small bag of flour, eggs and milk if you make them as a one off. Not value for money if you'd use the rest of the eggs, milk and flour elsewhere, which most people would. And not particularly nutritious.

Oh, so can you confirm that she’s only barefoot in the kitchen, for the behind the scenes part, not the actual filming then…

It’ll be the dried egg. It gives food a slightly gluey (gloopy?) taste and texture.

And shortens the shelf life without even more UPF additives.

The foccaccia had Meghan's fingers poking it before it was cooked. That's enough to put me off.