The problem with poppies

It’s probably poor form to bad mouth any aspect of a charity, even the ones that want to save really ugly animals that eat people (da da do de do da do, joke) but here we go.

I’m all for the Poppy campaign for the Royal British Legion has the charity itself does great things for the elderly and victims of wars but, in my opinion, the campaign has been somewhat bastardised by needless flashiness most exhibited on primetime TV.

What makes the Poppy campaign wonderful is its simplicity on two levels.

The first is the understated nature of displaying a poppy. Those who wish to use a poppy as their mark of respect for soldiers can simply put it on their clothing (incidentally, those who don’t wear poppies do not automatically lack this respect, in the same way laughing at someone’s misfortune doesn’t mean you don’t care for their wellbeing).

And the second is the actual poppy itself consisting of a simple couple of pieces of basic coloured paper, two types of plastic to hold it all together and a pin, if you remember to get one that is due to the whole H&S bollocks about not being able to take one and having to ask for it.

But in recent years, a booming new market in flashy showy off poppies is booming which started out on TV but has migrated itself to everyday life now.

Go across any terrestrial TV channel in the evening and I can guarantee that at least half of the poppies on display are sparkly or stupidly large or made out of multiple pieces of complex fabric or even bloody crystal-encrusted ones last year. It’s probably only a matter of time before a poppy is produced using Heston Blumnethal methods of construction.

It seems somewhat self-defeating to produce flashy, show off-y poppies when the beauty of the product and cause lies in its simplicity.

Obviously, if the proceeds of these poppies go to the fundraising campaign it doesn’t really matter as all the money that is raised is worthwhile. It’s even been argued that the flashy new poppies have boosted the fundraising for the Royal British Legion by way of extra exposure and appeal to a younger market.

But it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when a charity has to almost reinvent itself to keep the campaign relevant and cutting, particularly when the Poppy campaign has an effective captive market (if you’ll excuse the quite horrible use of that particular phrase there) at the beginning of November every year for a cause that is so important.