I love being wrong, when it’s in the name of learning.

A while ago I wrote a post about foreigners in Costa Rica happily paying 40% more for American vs Mexican All-Bran. My premise: since reasonable consumers should know same-brand products are practically identical, a decision to pay significantly more must indicate consumers’ discomfort with the point of origin. Provocatively I called it brand racism.

The Globe and Mail reported today that there are in fact significant differences between different country All-Brans.   Disgusting differences. A bowl of American All-Bran has 160mg of salt, while Canadian All-Bran has a whopping 620mg.

Kellogg’s says they’re afraid to change the Canadian recipe because Canadians love salt. That’s lazy. If people are concerned about their digestive tract (they can’t be eating it for the flavour), they’re probably semi-concerned about their health. Consequently they would happily accept a reduction in salt.

I think I’m just going to eat more fruits and vegetables every day, and avoid All-Bran for a while, no matter what country it comes from.