Monday, March 26, 2007

Pepperidge Farm Web Team: Not So Helpful

As part of my ongoing effort to determine how long important snack companies consider their products worthy of the description "NEW" in their advertisements, I sent this email to Pepperidge Farm on February 21:
I noticed that some new Pepperidge Farm products are labeled as "NEW," such as the decadent Marbella Chocolate Toffee cookies.. For how long does a product continue to bear the distinction of "NEW"? Pretty much every product is newer than Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers, which debuted in 1962, after Margaret Rudkin discovered the snack cracker on a trip to Switzerland and returned to America with the recipe.. When does a product cease being "NEW"?


They sent me a nice email reassuring me that they read each email and will strive to reply within three business days. On March 23 (a bit longer than three business days) I received an email that contained this message "Re: Ref #: 003402818A" in the subject line. Their entirely unhelpful reply consisted of this:
M/M Avi, we received your message and appreciate your taking the
time to contact Pepperidge Farm.

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with the information you
requested. Any information available to the public can be found on our
website.

Thank you for visiting the Pepperidge Farm website.

Pepperidge Farm Web Team
dms

003402818A
Gee, thanks, Pepperidge Farm Web Team.

The search continues.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you should concern yourself with bigger issues, and not spend your time worrying about when a product is considered "NEW." Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Under most guidelines, "NEW" is new for 6 months after initial introduction.