Would Sir Ken want a Hamster?

25th June 2008

By David Parkin
Editor

HAS Morrison's advertising success gone to its head? Now it is said to have recruited Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond for its latest campaign.

President Sir Ken Morrison, who has already voiced his disapproval over the board's current share buyback strategy, is unlikely to be a fan of the celebrity nicknamed "Hamster".

Once happy to have a gruff voiceover from gritty Sheffielder Sean Bean as it showed off its latest bargains on our screens, it stepped up a gear just before Christmas by recruiting celebrities such as Lulu, Alan Hansen and Denise Van Outen.

That was credited with helping it record sparkling festive sales as a whole load of new shoppers were encouraged to venture past its revolving doors into the Bradford-based group's supermarkets for the first time.

Key to making the most of its takeover of Safeway was embracing consumers in former Safeway heartlands such as Scotland and the South of England.

Now we hear that having recruited actresses Tara Fitzgerald and Helen Baxendale to promote its lamb and strawberries, its latest advertising star will be Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.

He's the smug little bloke on the BBC car programme - as opposed to the smug big one and the smug one with the long hair.

While the BBC's obsessive use of Hammond to front a variety of TV shows - particularly since his high speed car crash in York two years ago - would suggest they think he's loved by the viewers, I can't stand the bloke.

What next for its adverts? Julian Clary and Dale Winton doing a trolley dash for cosmetics and fake tan in their local Morrisons?

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