Fox's fake 'biscuit safety board' taken seriously by council workers

by James Quilter , Brand Republic 21-Oct-09, 11:20

LONDON - Northern Foods' stunt around the creation of a fictitious "biscuit safety authority" has sucked in a number of district councils with some even organising "supervised" tea breaks, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

A website for the British Biscuit Advisory Board was launched last month warning consumers about "appetite control" and "biscuit storage". However an examination of the site revealed it is owned by Northern Foods, the manufacturer of Fox’s Biscuits.

According to the paper, 813 council workers viewed an online questionnaire about "biscuit-related injuries" while 437 actually completed it.

However if safety-conscious time-rich council workers had been reading Brand Republic they would have realised the site is actually part of the relaunch of Fox's Rocky biscuit.

Northern Foods launched a TV campaign for Rocky, created by Mother, advising the public to consume Rocky responsibly.

Despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of the site the BBAB is actually backed up by some genuine research into biscuit-related injuries by the Department of Trade and Industry.

It found a large number of people suffered injuries whiles consuming biscuits, such as scalding fingers while dunking them in a hot drink.