AU: Minions to boost banana sales
While growers battle to save their farms from the deadly virus and the threat of further spread from Cyclone Nathan bearing down on north Queensland, their promotional arm has signed up the Minions of the Despicable Me franchise to sell their fruit.
In the short film Banana, the Minions indulge their craving for fruit, particularly bananas. They also sing the Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-nana song.
Universal Studios and banana marketing group Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) are negotiating to promote bananas and the upcoming Minions movie in supermarkets in coming weeks.
HIA general manager marketing David Chenu said “it’s a logical pairing”.
“Minions are hugely popular little creatures. They live off and their favourite food is bananas. In Australia, too, the banana is the nation’s most popular food. Five million bananas are eaten every single day in this country. There is a strong emotional connection to bananas.”
He said the dire threat to the nation’s banana supply by the first confirmed case of Panama disease on a Tully farm on the weekend had hit growers hard. Panama disease wiped-out the commercial banana industry in the Northern Territory two decades ago.
It is also behind a series of devastating large-scale outbreaks in China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“It has been a massive wake-up call to the way we go about producing, growing and selling bananas. We don’t see any foreseeable impact on supply, taste, price or good value of bananas.”
Fears are growing heavy rain associated with Cyclone Nathan will hamper surveillance efforts around Tully, where the disease was detected.
Biosecurity Queensland continues to investigate a confirmed case of Panama disease Tropical Race 4 at a Dingo Pocket banana farm, however weather conditions have closed its mobile office at Tully IGA until Monday.