The Seasonal Berries campaign has been rebranded as Love Fresh Berries after research suggested consumers associated seasonality purely with British summer product.
Speaking at a pre-Christmas event in London, British Summer Fruits chairman Nick Marston said the industry campaign had originally been set up to promote British berries during the domestic season, before switching to promote berries year round in the early 2000s.
“That’s been running for 12 years, but we felt that ‘seasonal’ had different permutations and connotations to people,” Marston said. “Some people felt it meant British, others felt it didn't mean winter berries, and given the availability of great-eating fruit from many places around the world through the winter months, we felt it was appropriate to rename the campaign.”
The switch comes as a new strand of the campaign looks to promote berries as the ideal food to help combat a desire for comfort food during the cold, dark winter.“Most people find that when it is cold and dark outside, they are more likely to reach for foods that offer easy energy and feel comforting,” saidLove Fresh Berries spokesperson and dietitianSophie Medlin.
“These foods are often not as nutrient rich as some of the foods we might associate with the summer months like salads and fresh fruit. This can mean that we consume less vitamins which can make us more vulnerable to bugs like cold and flu.
“We often think of berries as being a summer fruit, but they are available all year round which means that we can still benefit from the nutrients that they contain. Berries are a great source of vitamin C which has been shown to shorten the length of a cold. They also contain important antioxidants and polyphenols which are excellent for our overall health.”
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