J’Accuse – Jamie Oliver M.B.E.

Why does Jamie Oliver keep getting involved in these campaigns?

School Dinners, Ministry of Food, Stop the Working Class Eating Chicken, Train ASBO kids as Low Paid Kitchen Fodder-

You name it – he’s on it.

What motivates him to give so much of himself for the little people?

What drives him on to seek out new projects?

Here’s my theory.

Jamie Oliver was born in 1975 and brought up in rural Essex pub. His family were Tories and the area he grew up in was synonymous with the uncaring, “no such thing as society” ethos of 1980s Thatcherism.

Oliver got a job at the River Café. One day a TV producer making a documentary spotted him in the kitchen and the Naked Chef series was created. The producer had been looking for someone young to front a cookery show and, with his unthreatening, “chicken” looks, Oliver fitted the bill.

The idea was to create a kind of Britpop chef and build a show around his life.

The producer was Pat Llewellyn of Optomen Television. Optomen Television rented the flat for him and Pat Llewellyn guided him through the show by asking him questions. With heavy editing- they came up with a storyline of the hip young chef hanging with is buddies. Kind of the Monkees without the looks, tunes or personality.

The show was a hit and this enabled Jamie to do what he really cared about- ruthlessly making money in the Essex man stylee. Oliver signed a mega deal with Sainsbury’s to recreate his TV show as an advert. Same idea- he goes out with his ‘real’ mates (always including one black, one Jew, but none of them disableds as they put you off your dinner) then all back to ‘his’ for a slap up meal.

Absolutely no sign of any social conscience so far. So what was the road to Damascus moment that was the making of St Jamie?

The BBC suggested he should knock the Sainsbury ad’s on the head. He was ridiculously over exposed and appeared to be lining his pockets by copying a format shown by a public service broadcaster. Like many who get success young- Oliver had apparently developed into a full blown tosspot who believed his own hype. He left.

So at this point in his career- you had a kid who had been handed success on a plate and he had milked it for every penny. The public were tired of his act; Britpop was as dead as the T-Rex.

If he wanted to keep doing what he loved (stuffing fivers in his wallet) he had to reinvent himself.

Channel 4 signed him and Jamie’s Kitchen was born. His first “social enterprise” hit pay dirt.  His Bash St Kids were selected from a host of applicants on the basis of their value as soap opera characters. Again, heavy editing created a new Oliver character. This time, the caring, “doing it for the kids” dude. And he could keep doing the Sainsbury’s ad’s.

Unsurprisingly- he liked the sound of this. School Dinners followed and now Ministry of Food. Each time- the Sainsbury’s ad’s have continued. The man who shut down the Turkey Twizzler factory sees no contradiction in promoting a company with shelves full of similar products. In the run up to Ministry of Food- the ad’s are on a theme of feeding your family for a fiver with home cooking. Surely not up his own tricks of blurring the line between his TV shows and adverts again is he?

The lack of sincerity is staggering. His next great cause is already decided. After ‘saving’ the poor folks of Rotherham- he is going to save pigs.

Why pigs you ask. This report explains:

“Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pledged to make being a “champion for pigs” his next worthy cause.
Oliver, who has already championed free-range chickens in his television documentary Fowl Dinners, was speaking at the annual literary festival in Hay-on-Wye, mid Wales.
He said he had considered concentrating on beef or milk, but went with the popular choice of pigs after asking his audience.”

So there you have it. Jamie really cares about…whatever will sell with his audience. He looks for “his next worthy cause”, does some market research and drops it if it doesn’t play well with the ABC1s. It’s all about making the TV shows, making the adverts and selling the books. It was when he was the cheeky Naked Chef and it’s exactly the same now.

Don’t believe me. This is from a recent interview. Oliver was asked what his next project is. He said:

“Fifteen really looks after itself now and there’s a great team of people at the various restaurants all over the world and the chicken thing has got Hugh all over it. I’m excited about the Jamie’s Italian restaurants – we opened Oxford already and that’s doing really well. We open Bath and Kingston later this year and then Brighton, Cambridge and a few others next year. And I’m working hard on a new book and TV project for the autumn and you’ll find out more about that in September”.

 

Fifteen- moved on

The chickens- done with.

Ministry of Food- this burning passion he is pursuing in our town. The thing he was driven to do to get rid of images that haunted him. His crusade to change the health of the whole of Britain. It doesn’t even get a mention by name. Slipped his mind altogether this all consuming passion of his.

See, when you’re selling something- you don’t want to confuse the punters. Currently, Oliver is selling his chain of restaurants. Rotherham is just:

“a new book and TV project for the autumn and you’ll find out more about that in September”.

If you are involved in Ministry of Food- I hope you are getting paid as much as the people Jamie pretends to be friends with in his adverts. You are basically playing the same role- background artiste in a marketing campaign to boost the £20 million plus fortune of Jamie Oliver M.B.E..

 

No Blackmail