Half-million Euro Promotion

Page 2 of yesterday's print edition of provincial daily, Diario Jaén, announces that 300,000 euros of agricultural subsidies destined for the promotion of PDO olive oil from this province, alongside 200,000 more contributed by other levels of government, will be spent on contracting Bob Dylan to make a stop in the provincial capitol during his upcoming Spanish tour. Presumably, affiliating the product of our province's monoculture with an entertainer of this prominence will go a long way towards notably increasing its consumption.

One has to wonder, though, why anyone would want to spend half a million euros on a promotion that will be hard pressed to have any effects beyond Jaén's boundaries - this not to mention that it will have none within. Olive oil is absolutely ubiquitous here. The only possible initiative that would increase its use in the province would be to have it pouring from household water taps. And if the promotors of this idea believe that the concert will receive national (let alone international, where it is really needed) exposure, they should keep in mind that Mr. Dylan will be appearing during a multi-city Spanish tour sponsored by Zaragoza's Expo 2008. They will be lucky to get 10 seconds of air time on any medium that is not Andalucia's Canal Sur. After all, it will certainly not be equivalent to a hypothetical U2 farewell concert in the midst of the olive groves in terms of public interest. In turn for this largesse, the city government of Jaén promises to promote the province's olive oil in whatever manner it may. Singled out for meritorious mention in the article was the city's commitment to include olive oil in its institutional gift baskets for the next two years. What a deal!

Ignoring our gut feeling that there is some sort of political and economic sleight-of-hand taking place here (the hypothetical details of which we are categorically not free to share with our readers, however well-reasoned they might be), we wish to propose a more effective use for what is approximately 770,000 US dollars, suggested by a colleague familiar with these matters. That amount of money would currently pay the rent and staff at a 70 square metre store, devoted to the sale of Jaén PDO olive oil, within spitting distance of 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan for upwards of three years. And this without accounting for the sale of a single bottle of Sierra de Cazorla extra virgin on the premises.

Hello? Is anybody listening?