Little Guy Throwing His Rubbish Away Responsibly

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how Walkers Crisps (the UK version of Lay's) have a load of different designs for the little guy that throws his rubbish away responsibly.

It's a charming habit. I imagine one of the packaging designers devotes a very small amount of his time to creating new little guys appropriate to the crisp or crispy snack, and voila! nerdy people like me to are delighted to discover a fresh design.

However, it is not confined to Walkers. Hippeas, we tried the Sweet & Smokin' flavour, have their own little guy. He is sporting a CND peace sign and making a V sign. Hippeas want you to know how cool their crispy snack is.

Then there's Kolak. This little guy comes from their Hot & Spicy Crisps Black Pepper Flavour. The design is a little basic but I like the heart.

Then there's this extremely well-dressed little guy from Metcalfe's popcorn. I'm not certain why he needs a top hat but he certainly is well-dressed.

Let's not ignore KP Skips. The reluctant taste testers and I tasted Tingly Prawn Cocktail and discovered this slam dunk guy. Not a super exciting design but they made an effort to change the generic little guy into something a bit more interesting than what you usually see.

And this one here from Willards is unusual in that there are 2 bit of rubbish not just one.

I will keep my eyes open for more examples of little guys throwing their rubbish away responsibly. Do let me know if you can point me in the direction of other examples. I am sure there must be others out there that I have yet to spot.

Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn Sweet 'n Salt

I read that the great British public is buying fewer crisps (sales are down from £1.39 billion to £1.34 billion) but popcorn (sales are up from £50 million to £129 million). These figures seem to be from 2010 to 2015.

You can see for yourselves that crisps are still massively in the lead but that popcorn sales are definitely up. I wonder why that is?

It could be that there is suddenly a bunch of companies selling interesting new flavours of popcorn. Although I can't say why these companies all suddenly leaped into the popcorn market. These things do sometimes happen.

However, some people think that popcorn is simply a bit more healthy than your average crisp and that's why "young people" are drawn to it instead ye olde packet of crisps that everyone has been eating for the past 50 odd years.

That may be so. Particularly in the case of this Skinny Popcorn which is carefully designed to light and at the same time moreish and filling and has only 115 calories per packet. Of course it does have salt (bad for you) and sugar (bad for you) but the packet tells me this is a light, sporty portion. With a delicious natural flavour.

Not bad. Perfectly OK popcorn, a little bit salty a little bit sugary. But not madly exciting. To be honest, the reluctant taste testers and I felt the flavour was just a little bit cardboardy.

Still, it's a gentle and low(ish) calorie popcorn and probably better for you then many crispy snacks on the market.

Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn Wasabi Glaze

Lulled into a false sense of security by our recent trials of Waitrose Good to Go Wasabi & Ginger Popcorn and Portlebay Popcorn Wasabi & Sweet Ginger, the Chef and I crunched into this packet of Skinny Popcorn without taking proper precautions.

Aaargh! Wow this popcorn is hot and wasabi-y. And green. I think it's a little bit too much for us so I shall take some into work tomorrow and see what the reluctant taste testers have to say.

The list of ingredients is written in a complicated way but the flavourings contain mustard. And, apparently wasabi pea seasoning (as if that's a thing). I mean, I know about wasabi peas but does that mean suddenly that's a flavour? And then the colour comes from chlorophyll, and curcurmin, herb (herb? what herb?), green pea extract powder, and wasabi powder.

I don't think the green colouring has really come out in the photograph which is a shame because this popcorn is pretty green. I put the bowl right next to a light because chlorophyll colouring often shows up better in artificial light but I guess I have failed here. You'll have to take my word for it.

Well the reluctant taste testers quite liked this popcorn. One of them said it was a shame that the taste was good at first bite but then didn't last. Obviously she was looking for more taste. The extremely senior volunteer taste tester ate half the bowl all by himself. They liked it!

We still didn't. But there you are.

Metcalfe's Charity Topcorn Sea Salt

I took the train to Oxford to visit my friends the Professor and her husband the other Professor and found this bag of popcorn at Paddington Station.

I hadn't seen either of them in years so it was lovely to catch up. And it was also very nice to be able to take a look at Oxford which I don't know at all well. At at this time of year the Parks and the Botanical Gardens are looking lovely which was very pleasing for a tree fan like me. Also the vast mass of tourists following guides with umbrellas like flocks of sheep with cameras don't seem to invade the green spaces they way they do everywhere else.

The Professor had this vague idea that I write about breakfast cereal which made me laugh a lot. But why not, after all? Writing about crispy snacks is just as silly although I suspect there is more choice. I don't expect the Professor to remember this sort of nonsense: her mind is on much higher things. And that's not just me being facetious.

So after dinner at high table we went for a gentle walk around the college garden and then sat down to watch an episode of Lewis. As you do when you're in Oxford. And I opened this packet of Charity Topcorn.

I don't think I have seen this product before. I'm fairly sure I would remember a charity popcorn. I wondered, since the Sea Salt flavour sponsors CLIC Sargent for children with cancer, what charities the other flavours mentioned on the back of the packet were sponsoring. But it seems that they don't. it is only by chance that I picked up a sponsoring flavour. This one is called Charity Topcorn. The others are called Skinny Topcorn. Although why "topcorn" I can't quite make out.

Not a very exciting bag of popcorn. Just a gentle saltiness and (mysteriously because there is no butter in the ingredients) a faint almost butteriness which together make a pleasant slightly squeaky snack (I'm sure you must have noticed that popcorn does squeak.) And, as the Professor pointed out with approval, only 108 calories.

So, despite the lack of crispy snack excitement we rather enjoyed this bag of popcorn: sometimes one doesn't need excitement. And indeed, sometimes one goes to sleep while watching Lewis.

Metcalfe's have pledged to give at least £30,000 to their chosen charity between 2014 and 2017. A delicious donation for a great cause says the packet (I think that's my money paying for this packet), and congratulations & thanks for helping.

There are other flavours of Metcalfe's Topcorn available but only Sea Salt make a charitable donation so you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Oh yes, and let's not forget the little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly. Because here we have a totally new design. Well done Metcalfe's.