Love it or hate it - Marmite merchandise

Vegetarian yeast extract manufacturer Marmite continues to build upon it's 'love it or hate it' brand philosophy with an ever-growing range of branded merchandise. Some you may already be familiar with, some are a little 'off the wall' (or should that be 'off the shelf'?).

The recent retro range of kitchen memorabilia (kitchenalia?) featuring posters, signage and ads from yesteryear proved to be very popular, and many brands are producing similar things at the minute such as Cadbury's and Coca-Cola. You can now buy more modern art prints with a black and a white side, symbolising the love it or hate it brand approach.

What's interesting is their demonstration of how to use Marmite as an ingredient in other foods and dishes rather than just a spread for your toast. In addition to the cookbooks full of recipes and ideas of how to use Marmite, you can now serve your Marmite dish literally in a Marmite dish.

Some odd food combinations featuring Marmite available at the moment include Biscuits, Chocolate, Cereal Bars and Cashew nuts.

There was also a great April Fool product - Marmite Vaseline! Tongues firmly in cheeks there...

But why would we want to own something with a Marmite logo on? After all, aren't we just advertising their product for them for free? It's all about human nature. We all want to show other people what we like and who we are. It's an outward demonstration of our character and status. By signaling our tastes and character we essentially want to connect and interact with like-minded individuals. It's a basic 'tribal' instinct to which we use to form social groups, and also a display of our status within a group. We do it now more than ever with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Whether it's a T-shirt with your favourite band on, your flagged 'likes', or your preferred choice of trainers, it's all identification and signalling.

With many brands that have been around for a long time we've probably grow up with them, used them, and have fond memories of them especially from childhood. There is a sense of nostalgia and happiness attached with some brands, perhaps with a sense of comfort and memories of 'simpler times'. This isn't necessarily limited to just food brands like Oxo and Cadbury's but brands such as Raleigh, Persil and Fairy have strong brand loyalty too. Perhaps there is a human need to signal how old we are too!

With Marmite you're not just saying that you like the product, you're saying that you get the joke, that you understand the brand, therefore are a fun and intelligent person. You wouldn't walk around in a McDonald's T-shirt would you?...

Visit their online shop to see more products.