There is probably a simple answer to this, but damned if I can think of it. On the show “Good Eats”, they have shown “AB” shopping at the local Kroger at least a dozen times. They sometimes even have a graphic **telling ** you it is the Kroger in Alpharetta, GA or the like. All the products in the store are clearly Kroger brands. “AB” clearly puts these in his bascart, indicating he intends to purchase these to make his dish o’ the week. Why then, after they show him shopping at Kroger, buying things at Kroger, do they black out the Kroger label on the products once he pulls it out to use back home (a can of pineapple in the most recent example)?
At a wild guess (I don’t watch the show) I’m going to bet that Kroger is sponsoring the show, but only partially. When it’s time to go into syndication they can just cut out the Kroger shopping segments and then they’re not giving Kroger free advertising.
How long are the Kroger segments? If it’s less than 2 minutes in a half-hour I’m looking even more right.
It’s not just the Kroger products; no brand names are shown on Good Eats. I’m guessing this is to show one of two things. Either, “Any brand would work as well,” or “If you’d pay us, we’d show your label. How hard would that be?”
I’ve never noticed that, and I’m a devoted fan. I never, ever see brand names outside of the supermarket. Plus, it’s been seasons since Kroger’s been the store of choice. Seems that he only goes to the upscale, non-national places now, no?
I have nothing to add beyond the fact that I shop regularly at both the Whole Foods and the Kroger shown on the show (I live about 3 miles away from the Kroger in fact) and I have yet to see Alton there. As I understand it, he actually lives in the Marietta area, which is not really near Alpharetta, and I do not recall seeing either store on any of the newer episodes anyway.
Can I tell you how much my bubble was burst to find out his sister and nephew aren’t really his sister and nephew?
I bet they do lots of late-night filming. The produce section is always completely stocked and immaculate. Pretty easy to get a few ringers walking around with carts to make it look like normal business hours.
I could understand if they showed no stores or products of any kind. But to announce he is in a Kroger store, and then to black out the Kroger name on the pineapple chunks seems odd. And I agree, AB does seem to now frequent Whole Foods instead of the “low class” Kroger chain. I am stunned that a grocery store of any kind outside of Paris has a 100 item olive bar for chrissakes!.
Wasn’t there a big fuss a year or two ago where he got accused of shoplifting in one of the grocery stores? Not on the show, of course, but in real life.
That explains it! AB blocks out the Kroger label in new shows to not promote a store that detained him for theft. I would love to know if leaving the holes on the shelf was really “an accident”. From my days at a grocery, almost every thief we caught would pull out the old “why would I steal something that costs only two dollars” crap.
I’m amazed they were dense enough to not recognize him and draw some rather obvious conclusions about bad publicity, at least once they’d gotten their hands on his ID.
Maybe their store dick and manager don’t make enough money to have cable?
Don’t want to upset anyone, I am a fellow AB fan, but just the idea that he is famous and rich and therefore it is ludicrous to think he would steal is just not a good argument (c.f. Winona Ryder, et. al.). We had people steal Kool-Aid packs at the store I worked at, which cost ten cents each! To imply that special treatment should be afforded him, even if they knew who he was, is wrong on all levels. Mistakes happen, like Marge Simpson shoplifting some hilarious brand of whiskey, but it is security’s job to talk to the person and sort it out. The handcuffs were a bit much, though, but AB probably liked it (c.f. the hogtied pizza delivery boy in the backseat of his car in the pizza episode)
I don’t know about the Kroger part of it, but I do know that they rarely show brand names on any of the Food Network shows. I saw a segment once about the guy who makes fake labels for the containers Rachel Ray pulls out. He laughed that they often get requests on where to find the brands, which don’t exist.
He does this with Ritz crackers. He’ll show you the cracker, you know what it is, but he’ll say something like “I can’t tell you what crackers they are, but they look like this!” and wave the cracker in front of the camera.
Basically, they don’t want to give free advertising (Ooooh, AB uses Dole Green Beans in his recipe! I must use those and only those!) to those who don’t pay for it.
I have a question…at the end of the show, depending on when it was produced, the production company is either Means Street or Be Squared Production. What’s the difference?
Why doesn’t Kroger hunt down the assholes who leave dripping packages of raw meat on random shelves?
I have never eaten in a grocery, but I have drunk a Coke. In the checkout, I had to convince the cashier that she really did need to scan the empty bottle so I could pay for it.
