Friday, August 6, 2010

WHINE IN A BOX

Apparently, I've ve been making fun of wine in a box for a long time. This would be bad enough on it's own, but the fact that I have "the ability to influence millions of Americans" (HA!) makes it all the more reprehensible.



SCHOLLE CORPORATION


August 23, 2002


J.C. Duffy, Creator

"The Fusco Brothers" Comic Strip


Dear Mr. Duffy:


I am writing regarding your "The Fusco Brothers" comic strip of August 22 in

which you depict a couple drinking, and disparaging, "Wine in a Box." I

would like to draw the following to your attention:


The bag-in-box concept, invented by Scholle Corporation nearly 50 years ago,

is a unique and technically superior packaging concept that has garnered

many awards and is enjoyed by many millions of people around the world on a

daily basis.


Here in North America, if you drink Coca-Cola dispensed from a soda

fountain, the syrup is likely stored in and dispensed from bag-in-box in a

cabinet nearby. If you dispense milk in a school cafeteria, chances are it

is packed in bag-in-box. If you eat processed tomatoes in any form, those

tomatoes at one time were very likely stored in bag-in-box. And so it goes.


In the U.S., more supermarket wine (by volume) is consumed from a box than

from a bottle. In Australia, more wine overall is consumed from the "wine

cask," as they call it, a packaging concept that has revolutionized how

Australians consume wine. In fact, there are a number of premium wines in

Australia that are quite good and of a higher quality than many bottled

wines. In Europe, bag-in-box wines are among the fastest growing

segments-yes, even wine-snobbish Europeans are recognizing the superiority

of bag-in-box for convenience and for maintaining the quality of the wine

long after it is opened.


It is only in the U.S. that wineries have chosen to limit the use of this

excellent packaging concept to lower quality "jug" wines, and that people

like yourself with the ability to influence millions of Americans choose to

further denigrate the image of the package through the media.. What's a

packaging manufacturer to do?


By the way, if you had personally tried bag-in-box wine, you would know that

it doesn't pour from the corner but dispenses conveniently from a spout at

the bottom of the package. I encourage you to buy a box of Franzia or Peter

Vella brand and experience it for yourself. We at Scholle would be most

grateful.


Cordially,

Roberta J. Morris

Director, Marketing Communications


10 comments:

teresa.frog.applause said...

Why didn't he send you a gift certificate if he wanted you to try their product? Sheesh.

teresa.frog.applause said...

Oops, I see "he" is Roberta.

teresa.frog.applause said...

Where exactly in your cartoon were you disparaging Wine-in-a-Box? (Next time, I think I'll send one big Comment-in-a-Box instead of sending four small comments.)

This is my last comment!

JCD said...

That's exactly what I thought at the time: Send me a coupon!

JCD said...

"Think outside the box" is a put-down.

teresa.frog.applause said...

I always thought it meant to think creatively. See here.

This is my last comment!

JCD said...

The character was speaking literally, not figuratively. (Think outside the WINE box.)

JCD said...

That was my last retort!

MSZ said...

Yeah, and another thing: when our wine box is empty, you can fill it with cat litter and USE IT AGAIN!

HTTrainer said...

Do corporate minds think outside of the box?
But then, maybe it's the whine speaking.