The olive industry needs a mantra, spiritual, audible, visible and ever present in the thoughts of policy makers, producers and all those involved in the industry.
It should be invoked before any far reaching decision is made and before any campaign plan is developed and launched.
We suggest the following:
‘All olive oil is better than other vegetable oils and extra virgin olive oil is the best olive oil.’
Making this mantra central to our thoughts may bring the recognition that we must put the progress and public perception of olive products before any utterance which will discredit them.
In the past three years the public perception of olive oil has taken a battering from the self-interested campaigns in many producer and consumer regions which have sought to gain market prominence for a particular brand or region by discrediting other brands or regions. This undermining of consumer confidence is surely contributing to the decline in olive oil consumption in most importing countries, and even in some countries which are major producers.
Competition is necessary for progress, but we should never forget that we are not only competing with other olive oil products, but more importantly, we are also competing with other vegetable oils. Comparative trends show that the olive industry is losing the battle and it is time that industry leaders at all levels showed real leadership and pulled the industry together.
It is also incumbent on those of us involved in the olive industry to reinforce the positives, deal effectively with the negatives and never lose sight of the consumer, who is generally disinterested in the technical and competitive machinations of the industry and just wants an affordable, trustworthy, healthy and flavoursome olive oil.
It should be invoked before any far reaching decision is made and before any campaign plan is developed and launched.
We suggest the following:
‘All olive oil is better than other vegetable oils and extra virgin olive oil is the best olive oil.’
Making this mantra central to our thoughts may bring the recognition that we must put the progress and public perception of olive products before any utterance which will discredit them.
In the past three years the public perception of olive oil has taken a battering from the self-interested campaigns in many producer and consumer regions which have sought to gain market prominence for a particular brand or region by discrediting other brands or regions. This undermining of consumer confidence is surely contributing to the decline in olive oil consumption in most importing countries, and even in some countries which are major producers.
Competition is necessary for progress, but we should never forget that we are not only competing with other olive oil products, but more importantly, we are also competing with other vegetable oils. Comparative trends show that the olive industry is losing the battle and it is time that industry leaders at all levels showed real leadership and pulled the industry together.
It is also incumbent on those of us involved in the olive industry to reinforce the positives, deal effectively with the negatives and never lose sight of the consumer, who is generally disinterested in the technical and competitive machinations of the industry and just wants an affordable, trustworthy, healthy and flavoursome olive oil.
