The Duchess of Sussex launched the first product from her new business venture ‘American Riviera Orchard’ and sent 50 people including friends and influencers a jar of the jam – but a PR expert has since labelled the strategy as “weird”.
Friends of Meghan Markle excitedly posted the jam jar alongside a basket of lemons on social media, which had a strawberry jam jar wrapped in a white cloth with her new branding clearly displayed.
Commenting on the look of the item, PR guru Mark Borkowski told the Times: “It’s either hubris or else a very weird strategy. What’s in it? What does it taste like? There’s no story there, nothing on the back, just a label – and even that looks like it’s peeling off.”
It is also claimed Meghan could have found inspiration for her jam from King Charles, who began selling jam from the Duchy of Cornwall estate in the 1990s. Duchy Organic Preserve Extra Jam is currently for sale at Waitrose supermarkets for £2.80 per jar.
But each time someone buys a Waitrose & Partners Duchy Organic product, sales from the brand provide a donation to The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.
The PR expert further questioned how involved the Duchess of Sussex is in making the produce.
He said: “It’s a clear karaoke of what her father-in-law has been doing for a couple of decades with great success – but with far less authenticity. Do we really think Meghan has been stirring the jam pan herself?”
Parenting campaigner, Kelly McKee Zajfen, Argentine socialite Delfina Balquier, and stylist Tracy Robbins are the three figures to have so far posted a picture of the produce on their Instagram accounts.
It comes after Meghan announced her new business venture last month with an Instagram teaser video, showing her cooking and arranging white hydrangeas and roses, posted to the new American Riviera Orchard Instagram account.
However, a PR Expert speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk believes if Meghan decides to expand and mass produce the conserve in future, she’ll have to stop hand-making it.
Megan Boyle, head of digital PR at TAL Agency said: “It’s not known yet whether the jam will go into mass production.
“If it does it’s unlikely that Meghan will continue to produce each jar by hand – but it was a clever way of creating a buzz and interest (especially with limited numbers) and highlighting ARO rather than Meghan.”
Meanwhile, Express.co.uk conducted a survey, which ran from April 16 at 2pm until April 17 at 9.30am, to ask fans whether they would purchase a jar once it becomes publicly available.
13,917 votes in total were collected, with 98 percent [13,690 votes] of those stating that they would not be interested in buying a jar of Meghan’s jam.
