The children's book character Horrid Henry will soon be appearing on two million branded packs of Marmite (250g jars). With individual 'Horrid' and 'Perfect' labels, featuring Tony Ross's illustrations, Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter vividly capture the love it/hate it appeal of Marmite.
Each special Horrid Henry Marmite pack will contain a code for a free audio book download, from Audible.co.uk. There are five book downloads available, each written by Francesca Simon and read by Miranda Richardson: Horrid Henry, Horrid Henry's Underpants, Horrid Henry's Stink Bomb, Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend and Horrid Henry Robs the Bank. The promotion has been funded by Unilever, Reading For Life and Orion Publishing.
Cheryl Calverley, marketing manager for Marmite said: "Marmite is very excited to team up with Reading for Life, and the Horrid Henry stories in particular have a great resonance with Marmite fans. Whether you think Marmite is horrid (like Henry) or perfect (like Peter) audio-books are a great way to keep you kids out of mischief."
Joanna Rose, Brand Manager at Orion said, "We are delighted to be working with Marmite and Reading for Life in a way that perfectly encapsulates Horrid Henry's great sense of fun."
See the special Horrid Henry Marmite site at http://marmite.co.uk/horrid-henry.html
This is a good cause, but I'm not sure I would put anything that said it was horrid on product packaging. It's just not a good association, regardless of the intent.