One week we run a front page story that details the phenomenal surge in awareness of Pink Lady apples. The next - this - we have to inform our readers that the UK’s second largest retailer is unwilling to support the brand by paying the premium price required to build awareness in the first place.

The Asda trial was conducted over a six-week period and though it claims to have achieved an uplift in Cripps Pink sales, other sources have told this Journal that is not strictly true.

Whatever the reality, and let’s face it, you can argue that Asda would say there has been a sales rise because it suits the corporate stance, the six-week trial coincided with well-documented events outside Asda walls that placed the value of the Pink Lady brand in an entirely new context.

The UK consumer has bought into, and associates with, the Pink Lady brand, not pink apples.

Unfortunately, it is an argument that growers and suppliers can have until they are blue in the face, Asda does not believe in fresh produce brands and once the trial was announced, the final decision was a mere formality.

This should not be seen as the death knell for branded apples. Enough retailers still show belief in brands to ensure they can survive. Ultimately, it has been proven that strong brands add to a supermarket offer; but they offend egos at head office.

The telling aspect of this particular problem is that the decision is blatantly based on cost to the retailer and not the intrinsic value of the fruit for its consumer. Value in this case has less to do with quality and more with being the cheapest in the high street.