I Liked Pomegranates Before They Were Cool
Has anybody noticed that pomegranates are everywhere these days? Man, I’ve been eating pomegranates for years now, and just because they taste good; not because of any of these so called health benefits.
I wrote this letter to POM Wonderful, the company I feel is responsible for the recent trendiness of the pomegranate. I found their address on their website.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to inform you of my unhappiness with the PR work you have done regarding the pomegranate fruit.
As a child, I was occasionally lucky enough to be given the opportunity to eat a sweet, delectable pomegranate. At the time, the fruit was relatively obscure, certainly not the household item it is today. I was able to impress many a people with their first taste of the delicious fruit.
Considering how great pomegranates really are, it was only a matter of time before it became the trendy substance it is today. I believe it was your company that was by-and-large responsible for this transition.
There was a time when I could just enjoy a pomegranate without any major problems, but now I do so at the risk of appearing trendy or worse yet, health-conscious. I do not appreciate these two labels being attached to my name or my character. I have since ceased eating pomegranates outright.
However, I find myself craving the sweet red pomegranate seeds more and more frequently. It is for this reason that I am requesting you cease and desist all further public-relations work on the pomegranate. Perhaps you consider working with the star-fruit?
I hope this is not too much of an inconvenience for your company.
See POM’s response.
Kevin,
Thank you for the letter and post.
We appreciate your concern. I know our PR team has spent a lot of time evangelizing the potential health benefits of the Wonderful variety of pomegranate, specifically those grown by us (POM Wonderful). They have also promoted some of the things you can do with pomegranates, like our recipes and home decor. I am not aware of them intentionally doing PR efforts to make the fruit more trendy, I think that just happened naturally as people realized the power of the pomegranate. Although, I know our PR folks are far more cool than I am and have been able to get into some really cool events, shows and on the minds of other cool (and trendy) people. I will talk to our HR people and the VP of PR to see if we can try to hire less ‘cool’ people though. I wish we were to blame for its trendiness but I personally think the fruit did that all by itself. Regarding the concern for appearing health-conscious, yes that could be a valid concern but hopefully one of our several drink recipes will help you cope with it: http://bit.ly/pomcocktails.
Thank you again,
Jeff, POM Blogger