Tell them about the mason, Jason !

Headlined today on the BBC website is the story that Tate and Lyle sugar is to be accredited with Fairtrade status, which, in principal, means that local producers in the developing countries receive a "fair price" for their commodities and additionally T&L "invest further to improve local working conditions and local sustainability".

If we want to see the direction that our "new global world" is headed in, it is perhaps informative to look again briefly at the history of Tate and Lyle, well Mr. Lyle anyway - the founder of Lyles Golden Syrup. Keen readers may remember my post earlier this year when I wrote about the special "anniversary" golden tin in my post, The Golden Lion.

Mr Abram Lyle was born in Greenock,West Scotland, making his money from trading with the West Indies. In 1881, he opened his London sugar refinery with the help of his sons, the advertising and marketing logo of the brand have remained the same since their introduction in 1885, which has resulted in a Guinness Book of Records entry.




















"The tins are believed to be Britain's oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging and image of a lion with a biblical quotation having remained almost unchanged since 1885. In Book of Judges, Chapter 14, Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in search of a wife. During the journey he killed a lion, and on his return past the same spot he noticed that a swarm of bees had formed a comb of honey in the carcass. Samson later turned this into a riddle at a wedding: "Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness". While no one is sure why this quotation was chosen, Abram Lyle was a deeply religious man and it has been suggested that it refers either to the strength of the Lyle company which delivers the sweet syrup or possibly even to the trademark tins in which Golden Syrup is sold."

A cynic might suggest that exploiting the "undeveloped" countries for over 127 years and now "fairtrading" would perhaps be a fair summary of the Lyle business strategy, bearing in mind that the "trade" with the West Indies, by which Mr Lyle initially acquired his wealth, is likely to be slave related.

And to the future ?

We can perhaps take a glimpse ahead of the freemasonic global strategy by drawing on Mr Lyle's swarming bumble bees and another marketing "icon", the recently reincarnated honey monster of Sugar Puff fame.

From wikipedia:

"The Honey Monster was first seen on TV in the 1970s in an advertisment created by Pat Dobbin of NUI Galway mime troup supermime2000. The ad focused around a nutritional message which was illustrated by a "mother" (played by Henry McGee) and "child" (the Honey Monster) relationship. The mother was responsible for what the child was eating. The child wanted honeyand would cry “Tell them about the honey, mummy!”.

And our beloved re-risen honey monster's golden plans :











"In February 2007, Sugar Puffs and the newly returned Honey Monster launched the Hive Action campaign. Hive Action is a year long fundraising collaboration with Hives Save Lives Africa. The project aims to promote the power of honey in Africa to alleviate poverty and is supported by Ben Fogle and Liz McLarnon of Atomic Kitten."

From my post last year, Fags,Booze, Bees and Masons when I noted:

"We cannot tell a lie. George Washington, America's first president was a Scottish Freemason. It was never a secret that Washington was an enthusiastic member of the craft, but now his Scots connection has emerged. Washington was in Fredericksburg Lodge number 4 in Virginia which got its charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Edinburgh in 1758. The lodge was started by West of Scotland freemasons who dominated the tobacco industry there until the American Revolution in 1776."






By appointment to..







cheers

BBC article is here.