Out of the strong there came forth blandness

[Clitheroekid]

I was dispappointed, if not surprised, by the decision of Lyle's to drop the dead lion on their golden syrup products - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68347249

The reason I was disappointed is that it's brands like this that make - or made - life more interesting. I well remember, as a young child, having this syrup on my porridge in a vain attempt to make it edible, and I was always really intrigued by the picture of the dead lion with bees flying around - far more interesting than Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies.

The replacement logo is bland and completely unmemorable, but is exactly what I'd expect from the spoutings of James Whiteley, their `brand director':

“We’re excited to unveil a fresh redesign for the Lyle’s Golden Syrup brand.

“While we’ll continue to honour our original branding with the heritage tin, consumers need to see brands moving with the times and meeting their current needs.

“Our fresh, contemporary design brings Lyle’s into the modern day, appealing to the everyday British household while still feeling nostalgic and authentically Lyle’s.

“We’re confident that the fresh new design will make it easier for consumers to discover Lyle’s as an affordable, everyday treat, while re-establishing the brand as the go-to syrup brand for the modern UK family, featuring the same delicious taste that makes you feel Absolutely Golden.”

FFS!

[kiloran]

The replacement logo is bland and completely unmemorable, but is exactly what I'd expect from the spoutings of James Whiteley, their `brand director':

“We’re excited to unveil a fresh redesign for the Lyle’s Golden Syrup brand.

“While we’ll continue to honour our original branding with the heritage tin, consumers need to see brands moving with the times and meeting their current needs.

“Our fresh, contemporary design brings Lyle’s into the modern day, appealing to the everyday British household while still feeling nostalgic and authentically Lyle’s.

“We’re confident that the fresh new design will make it easier for consumers to discover Lyle’s as an affordable, everyday treat, while re-establishing the brand as the go-to syrup brand for the modern UK family, featuring the same delicious taste that makes you feel Absolutely Golden.”

FFS!

Who needs AI when we've got James Whiteley?
That last sentence is an absolute cracker.

--kiloran

[bungeejumper]

Actually I rather like the new lion design. Not because it's Gen Z, but because it reminds me of Biba and Kings Road and all that sixties stuff. It's fresh and balanced, and rather well done.

Why change the image now, since the lion and bees were one of the world's longest-surviving brand images? (I mean in its un-altered form. Coca-Cola might be older, but look how many redesigns it's had.)

Well, I could surmise that, these days, the religious myths and traditions of old Israel (Samson and all that) don't have quite the same empathic pull that they did six months ago. But maybe I'm over-analysing it. Better, perhaps, to address the awkward fact that honey that's come from a rotting lion's belly isn't exactly what you'd call vegan.

And soddit, bees never did have anything much to do with processed cane syrup anyway....

BJ

[stevensfo]

I was dispappointed, if not surprised, by the decision of Lyle's to drop the dead lion on their golden syrup products - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68347249

The reason I was disappointed is that it's brands like this that make - or made - life more interesting. I well remember, as a young child, having this syrup on my porridge in a vain attempt to make it edible, and I was always really intrigued by the picture of the dead lion with bees flying around - far more interesting than Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies.

The replacement logo is bland and completely unmemorable, but is exactly what I'd expect from the spoutings of James Whiteley, their `brand director':

“We’re excited to unveil a fresh redesign for the Lyle’s Golden Syrup brand.

“While we’ll continue to honour our original branding with the heritage tin, consumers need to see brands moving with the times and meeting their current needs.

“Our fresh, contemporary design brings Lyle’s into the modern day, appealing to the everyday British household while still feeling nostalgic and authentically Lyle’s.

“We’re confident that the fresh new design will make it easier for consumers to discover Lyle’s as an affordable, everyday treat, while re-establishing the brand as the go-to syrup brand for the modern UK family, featuring the same delicious taste that makes you feel Absolutely Golden.”

FFS!

Have you ever looked at the ingredients? Invest in big diabetes-II drug producing Pharma companies.

It makes the shareholders feel very golden indeed!


Steve

[bungeejumper]

Something else I'd never noticed about the old logo. Yesterday's Daily Wail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food ... e-5973787/) described it in unexpectedly dionysian terms:

In a viral Reddit post on Friday in the r/CasualUK forum, fans noticed that the picture on the front of the iconic metal tins is actually of a dead lion covered in beers.

Must have been some party.

BJ

[Urbandreamer]

Have you ever looked at the ingredients? Invest in big diabetes-II drug producing Pharma companies.

Steve

Have you looked?

I believed that I knew the ingredients, but your statement caused me to doubt.
So I pulled the tin down from the shelf and looked.

Strangely my tin doesn't HAVE ingredients to look at! They simply are not listed, unless the ingredient is golden syrup.

FWIW I believe that it is processed sugar.
Out of curiosity I checked the bag of sugar. It did have ingredients listed. They were granulated sugar.

I can't remember the last time that the sugar was used and the golden syrup tin still has it's seal.

[kempiejon]

Own brand golden syrup, Partially inverted refiners syrup.
But no heading Ingredients. Per 100g as 79g of carbohydrates of which 79g is sugar and 0.3g protein and 0.68g salt.

[stevensfo]

Have you ever looked at the ingredients? Invest in big diabetes-II drug producing Pharma companies.

Steve

Have you looked?

I believed that I knew the ingredients, but your statement caused me to doubt.
So I pulled the tin down from the shelf and looked.

Strangely my tin doesn't HAVE ingredients to look at! They simply are not listed, unless the ingredient is golden syrup.

FWIW I believe that it is processed sugar.
Out of curiosity I checked the bag of sugar. It did have ingredients listed. They were granulated sugar.

I can't remember the last time that the sugar was used and the golden syrup tin still has it's seal.

Are you sure?

The ingredients will be there. Look carefully.

If not, then it's a Chinese import.

Does it glow in the dark?


Steve

[Urbandreamer]

Have you looked?

I believed that I knew the ingredients, but your statement caused me to doubt.
So I pulled the tin down from the shelf and looked.

Strangely my tin doesn't HAVE ingredients to look at! They simply are not listed, unless the ingredient is golden syrup.

FWIW I believe that it is processed sugar.
Out of curiosity I checked the bag of sugar. It did have ingredients listed. They were granulated sugar.

I can't remember the last time that the sugar was used and the golden syrup tin still has it's seal.

Are you sure?

The ingredients will be there. Look carefully.

If not, then it's a Chinese import.

Does it glow in the dark?

Steve

Yes I AM sure.

It surprised me but the word ingredients was nowhere to be found. Sure, all the nutritional information was there. Surprisingly, nutritionally it contains a small amount of salt.
The front of the can describes it as "partially inverted refiners syrup", but there is no list of "ingredients" and no such word on the can. Apparently the contents were best before 2020.

Possibly the word does not need to exist, if the contents are printed on the container. My tin of dried bread yeast also has no word ingredients upon it. I wonder what the stuff in it is? OH that's right, the word yeast is printed on the tin.

[stevensfo]

Are you sure?

The ingredients will be there. Look carefully.

If not, then it's a Chinese import.

Does it glow in the dark?

Steve

Yes I AM sure.

It surprised me but the word ingredients was nowhere to be found. Sure, all the nutritional information was there. Surprisingly, nutritionally it contains a small amount of salt.
The front of the can describes it as "partially inverted refiners syrup", but there is no list of "ingredients" and no such word on the can. Apparently the contents were best before 2020.

Possibly the word does not need to exist, if the contents are printed on the container. My tin of dried bread yeast also has no word ingredients upon it. I wonder what the stuff in it is? OH that's right, the word yeast is printed on the tin.

Okay, so it is more or less explained here:

https://www.ragus.co.uk/difference-betw ... gar-syrup/

So the sugar has simply been split into its two components, Glucose and Fructose. Glucose will be immediately used and Fructose will be converted into Glucose by your liver.

But is all just sugar and will affect insulin levels..... and make you fat!

Steve

PS At uni, I loved organic chemistry and can still remember the 3-d models of glucose and fructose. The carbon bonds allow them to form different shapes that are important, otherwise your digestive enzymes wouldn't work. Then you'd look rather silly!

[Redmires]

I've never noticed (or been interested) if it's a dead lion or just resting after a big meal. And I bet that no one ever complained about it as well. It's just a publicity stunt.

[Stompa]

So will they be updating that damn great tin on the corner of the factory?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersg/5371006910

[Mike4]

The bit that piques my interest is people writing about "Lyles" Golden Syrup. I always thought it was "Tate and Lyles' Golden Syrup". Or more specifically, why was the Tate name dropped, or never involved?

Might have to go and Google that...

[Hallucigenia]

So will they be updating that damn great tin on the corner of the factory?

Why would they? Per the BBC report, it's only the modern squeezy bottles etc that are being rebranded,

the classic Lyle's Golden Syrup tin will be excluded from the rebrand, keeping its more than 150-year-old packaging design.

[bungeejumper]

The bit that piques my interest is people writing about "Lyles" Golden Syrup. I always thought it was "Tate and Lyles' Golden Syrup". Or more specifically, why was the Tate name dropped, or never involved?

Might have to go and Google that...

I did! And it's an interesting story. Tate and Lyle didn't merge until 1921, for a start. Although both companies had been trading since the late 1800s, I think it was always just Lyle's Golden Syrup on the tin. Happy to be corrected on that, but I think we may both have been under the same illusion?

The Tate Gallery goes to some lengths to distance Messrs Tate and Lyle from the slave trade. Apparently neither man was more than 14 years old when slavery was formally abolished by Britain in 1833, but there was still a squeaky-bum period when both companies were supplied by parts of the Caribbean and South America where it was still legal. Another reason, perhaps, for getting rid of the Old Colonial image?

https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/histor ... tal%20ways.

BJ

[stevensfo]

The bit that piques my interest is people writing about "Lyles" Golden Syrup. I always thought it was "Tate and Lyles' Golden Syrup". Or more specifically, why was the Tate name dropped, or never involved?

Might have to go and Google that...

I did! And it's an interesting story. Tate and Lyle didn't merge until 1921, for a start. Although both companies had been trading since the late 1800s, I think it was always just Lyle's Golden Syrup on the tin. Happy to be corrected on that, but I think we may both have been under the same illusion?

The Tate Gallery goes to some lengths to distance Messrs Tate and Lyle from the slave trade. Apparently neither man was more than 14 years old when slavery was formally abolished by Britain in 1833, but there was still a squeaky-bum period when both companies were supplied by parts of the Caribbean and South America where it was still legal. Another reason, perhaps, for getting rid of the Old Colonial image?

https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/histor ... tal%20ways.

BJ

The Ottoman slave trade pre-dates the West European slave trade by centuries. In Malta, there is a plaque in the Gozo citadel to remember a man who preferred to kill his whole family rather than have them fall into Moslem hands.

Then, in the 1920s, British troops were trying to stop Arab slave-traders. I read one account in Tanzania where the troops were surrounded, but the Arabs agreed to only take the children!!

Slavery in Oman only stopped in the 1970s, due to the Prince being educated in the UK and making his father sign a declaration!

Steve

PS Back on topic, I remember Golden Syrup as a kid, but these days it would be far too sweet for me.