Sainsbury's in conflict with Jamie Oliver over Fowl Dinners fiasco
They may have paid him countless millions to irritate us all in TV ads, but that hasn't stopped Jamie Oliver from publically criticising Sainsburys' bosses for 'chickening out' of a televised debate on factory farming.
In Jamie's Fowl Dinners, the ethically-aware chef will take the viewer on a shocking journey through the murky depths of intensive chicken farming in the UK. As part of the investigation, he invited the big four supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, to speak in a debate on farming methods. But all four supermarkets refused to take part, putting Oliver in a difficult situation vis-a-vis his long-term business partner.
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury's defended the supermarket's actions, pointing out that a senior manager was interviewed by Oliver in the programme. She said: "We feel very strongly that we have made a significant contribution to the making of this programme, and we demonstrated this by Sainsbury's head of brand giving Jamie a full interview and meeting Jamie in Devon. "It is not true to suggest that we didn't participate in the making of the programme." But Oliver maintained today in the Daily Mirror that all supermarkets approached had been no-shows, saying: "It is shocking that the people I work for didn't turn up on the day. I don't know why."
Jamie's Fowl Dinners will air at 9pm on 11th January
This is crazy. Jamie Oliver is stuffing his pockets with cash from Sainsburys whilst telling us what we should and shouldn't eat. If he really cared about chickens he'd not take his fat 1.2 million a year from this huge supermarket. Where does he think the money comes from to pay his contract....partly from mistreating chickens.
This guy is a hypocrite and a fraud. If I earned over a million quid a year, I too would eat organic free-range! It doesn't help that he's also gratuitous pompous and self-inflated.
Posted by: sarah hunt | January 11, 2008 9:34 PM