Please take the time to read the messages below and I call on you, my fellow South Africans, to take up the mighty keyboard and computer and complain en masse to these troglodytes.
I drafted the following concern to the Manufacturers:
To which I received the following senseless reply today:Dear Ouma,
It is time for some very stern words: I *only* buy Ouma Sliced Marmalade Rusks and have been doing so ever since they first appeared on the market a number of years ago. I normally buy six boxes at a time as I was caught once before when no-one had any stock of these and to my utter dismay, this has happened again.
Over the past four weeks I have been unable to source these anywhere in my hometown and thus have to be very stern with you, Ouma. I am down to my very last box of Marmalade rusks and have tried all Supermarkets etc in my area, no one has any stock and they blame the Supplier. Please cease production of ALL other flavours and concentrate immediately on Marmalade rusks, I will have none left after this week and I am totally hooked on these rusks. I have tried the new Honey & Ginger flavours but am not hooked on these, although if you decided to produce sliced ginger rusks, that might work. Kindly advise me soonest when (and where!!!) I can expect to purchase sliced Marmalade rusks again, the situation is critical and I am thinking of getting President Obama involved. Please realise I will only do this if the situation deteriorates further. In the meantime, please scour the factory, perhaps you will find a few boxes that have not yet shipped - I need them, urgently! I remain faithfully, Devoted Maramalade Rusk Addict,
WHAT BULL!!! (Sorry, Stubs...)
Dear Devoted Marmalade Rusk Addict
It is with a heavy heart that we regret to inform you that in fact your worst nightmare has come true- we have discontinued the Ouma Marmalade flavour.
We understand that South African's like yourself have come to love Ouma over the years and that any changes to this iconic South African brand will be met with some resistance and distress. However, as Rusk market leader it is Ouma's responsibility to innovate and grow the category for retailers who sell our Rusks but also for consumers ensuring that Ouma remains relevant over the years. The retailers' shelves are finite, in order to make way for new innovation and we thus need to revisit our range and remove slower moving lines. In going through the exercise of reviewing our range, unfortunately Marmalade emerged as our slowest selling line (despite such loyal followers like yourself) making it the prime candidate for discontinuation. This was not a decision which was taken lightly at all and I assure you that it was given the utmost consideration at various levels throughout the organisation. We always appreciate hearing from our loyal Ouma customers and whilst we understand that the above explanation will not bring your beloved Marmalade Rusk back, we hope that it serves to provide some insight into the reasons behind this change. Ouma plans to continue to bring new innovations into the brand over time and we hope that future innovations will be to your liking.
Regards
Kate A........
SENIOR BRAND MANAGER - NOLA/OUMA
Please address your emails of howling distress to:
ouma@foodcorp.co.za
Guys, this is serious! Please send your complaints to Ouma at the above email and while you're at it, the "new" Ginger & Honey rusks are absolute rubbish - I have tested both and they do not meet my (fairly low) standards.
**** R I P ****
-F_D
nope, cannot take that chance. I will fetch them this evening. 