Be a woman, take it like a man.

[venta]

A while back I noticed posters advertising a "protein shake" called, I think, Upbeat and made a note to try it. I figured it was a potentially interesting snack-concept for days when I want to go straight from work to, say, a yoga class without keeling over. (Lots of other interesting snack-concepts are also available but hey, I quite like milkshake).

This morning, outside Ealing Broadway station, there were gentlemen in leather jackets handing out free samples of a chocolate "40% higher protein" milkshake called Wing-Co. Obviously protein shakes are the new Thing. Wing-Co has a blocky cartoon of a WWII-era pilot (his moustache dripping chocolate milk) on the bottle, and small planes whizzing past the nutritional information.

It's pretty nice, actually. Chocolate milkshake is very variable and often has a nasty, grainy texture but I enjoyed this one. Whether it can actually make good on its promise to "shoot down hunger, fast" remains to be seen. But I could imagine buying it again.

Except...

As the free-samplers were dishing out the bottles this morning, they said "Man up with Wing-Co!" to everyone they handed one to. According to the info box on the label, "WING-CO IS PROPER MAN FUEL". "DON'T BE A GIRL," it further elaborates, "SHAKE IT UP AND DRINK IT NOW!"

Oh. Good.

The info box is, of course, designed to look like a plate which has been screwed onto the bottle. Because, y'know, screws are very manly (they look like slotted-head countersunk woodscrews to me).

Think I'll try out Upbeat after all. In fact, Wing-Co has inspired me to compare the two, and Upbeat has real fruit in it, and more protein, and is made entirely from British milk.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

more aimed at terribly busy people who need to keep going until they can fit their next meal in

Gosh - I haven't heard that one before... that's quite horrifying. :-/

[venta.livejournal.com]

I may be paraphrasing poorly. Upbeat's webpage says:

"...it’s best to have protein as part of every meal and snack…not always easy if you're on the go. Most of us don’t get enough protein early on in the day and it’s not until the evening meal that we tend to get a good amount of high quality protein – generally from meat or fish. We understand that busy lifestyles mean getting a balance of all the right nutrients at each meal or snack isn't always easy."

I hadn't seen it as a diet-related product, but on reflection that might just be because I don't think of diets much.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Still, it really doesn't sound from that blurb like they're aiming for the diet market.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Several of my colleagues have made a point of popping over to see if my beard's grown since I finished the milkshake :(

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

And has it? I hope you at least have managed a handlebar moustache after all that!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. My face appears to be falling off. Not sure if that's related to the weekend's sunburn, or an incipient beard!

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Written by somebody who doesn't know about sandwiches, there!

[venta.livejournal.com]

If I were unprepared, I'd probably rather have a milkshake than a bought sandwich... bought sandwiches are usually icky, or very expensive, or occasionally both.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Protein shakes really are a Thing. Even the BBC wants to tell me about them today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22753620).

They're pointing out that you can have too much protein, which I guess the marketing blurb for the shakes rather glosses over.