petite anglaise

swallow

92 comments

1. Londres en amoureux?

   Heh, I’d laugh if I saw that…it’s a bit random.

   Tom | 7:04 pm

2. I love how they arranged the bits of sauce behind each bean. Though I admit it took me about ten minutes of squinting at that picture to actually get the joke. It was the word amoureux that finally tipped me off.

   Whisper | 7:09 pm

3. Yeah I got it after a few moments too.

   Beans and egg do make for a good combination though.

   Billygean | 7:17 pm

4. Very good! Well spotted.

   I’m with Billygean - bean and egg is indeed a marvellous combination. In fact I think I’ll have it for my breakfast tomorrow, with white bread, plenty of butter and lots of hot coffee.

   stressqueen | 7:26 pm

5. I could guess, but will someone translate for the ignorant American- I would assume the picture says it all…Who come up with this stuff?

   E | 7:33 pm

6. I saw that ad today, too! I actually thought it was kind of gross, even if it did make me smile.

   I don’t think I’ll ever look at baked beans the same way again!

   abby | 7:34 pm

7. What would the bastard child of an egg and a bean look like, anyway?

   anna | 7:43 pm

8. And what do bean sperm come out of.

   Are there giant baked beans with giant orange penises?

   anna | 7:44 pm

9. I don’t think I’ll ever eat a baked bean again.

   anna | 7:46 pm

10. God bless the French.

    Alison | 7:52 pm

11. Nr. 8: anna, I think they come from Mr. Bean…

    alcessa | 8:30 pm

12. I’m ashamed to say I saw it right away. I guess this sort of fry up is not something the French can get at home?

    Emma | 8:33 pm

13. I’m sure the beans taste better though.

    What the hell are they advertising anyway? the ad may say it, but my French is rusty (i.e.non-existent).

    Adam | 8:50 pm

14. I must have a filthy mind. I knew what it was the second I looked at it. I love the French

    Melissa | 8:51 pm

15. Are they suggesting that we Brits are simply fried-breakfast devouring sex maniacs?

    Who knew the French were so perceptive?

    Anna’s right though, that picture is definitely missing a decent Cumberland.

    Mr Angry | 8:53 pm

16. Coming from the country founded by Puritans and where everyone is so afraid of being politically incorrect and corrupting the minds of our young people, it’s refreshing to see some more open-minded (and truly hysterical) approaches to advertising.

    I’m trying to picture this on the big bill-board in Times Square and can’t; as it is, the Calvin Klein underwear model caused enough of a furor in his day!

    The Bold Soul | 8:56 pm

17. I’m wondering… did they have a condom ad right next to this one?

    The Bold Soul | 8:57 pm

18. So Petite, do you or don’t you? Do tell us (or should I say “come on, spit it out”).

    Mancunian Lass | 9:06 pm

19. I guess that egg has bean around…

    Lara | 9:33 pm

20. “God bless the French”. Why?

    Wendy Ascham | 9:52 pm

21. Yeah, sounds nice but 100 euros for a simple “Aller/Retour” seems a bit much, if you catch my drift.

    *winkwink*

    Tina | 10:19 pm

22. E, (n°5)Londres en amoureux means something like ‘take a trip to London with your other half’ not quite as classy in English. This promo has launched a whole baked bean debate all over Paris, they’ve even got an English stand in the luxury Monoprix in Billancourt.

    Paris Lights | 10:24 pm

23. It took me a while to figure there were beans in the picture…

    Through my daily commuting out and in I must have been exposed to this image at least 10 times per day for five days.

    I was perplex, not shocked.

    At least until I saw the advert from 1 meter away and could finally distinguish the trace of sauce behind each bean. And that’s Friday evening, 3 hours ago.

    Cute idea, this fecondation. Although the egg looks quite beyond its fertility peak !

    Annabel | 10:24 pm

24. E - it means (loooooosely translated, as with so much in le francais, half of the sentence is in the culturally implied wink wink) “London for lovers” or “London in love”…an advert for Parisiens to go get thee some London seed! (or egg, depending on your persuation)

    Estelle | 10:41 pm

25. I saw it and I found it stupid and a proof of bad taste.

    François Granger | 10:42 pm

26. Anna: I dont think the bean sperm would come OUT of anything. Theyre probably just naturally covered in it. And the child would probably look like an oversised runny white bean. With an orange belly button. And I imagine it would smell bad.

    Whisper | 11:10 pm

27. Bit obvious but… go to work on an egg!

    katie | 11:57 pm

28. snarf. that’s funny.
    and anna, thank you for the visual I shall have in my head for the rest of my life whenever I eat baked beans.

    lucy blogzira | 12:13 am

29. Most of the ads for the Eurostar are pretty good. This once was very good though.

    pardonmyfrench | 12:17 am

30. I don’t think anyone’s got it yet, Petite. They’re the new breakfast…..eggs seamen.

    Gil | 12:36 am

31. Baked beans=Navy beans

    Gil | 12:38 am

32. I’ve got a photo of that poster in my journal too!

    France always has funnier Eurostar posters than the UK, I think.

    Remember the one a couple of years ago when the “Londres en Amoureux” offer showed a man and woman streaking at a football match holding hands running across the pitch? Genius.

    Alistair | 12:46 am

33. definition of a brave man? One who comes home smelling of beer, perfume and covered in lipstick and says:- Your next fatty….. ahahahaha! (plonk!)

    simon | 1:03 am

34. i believe bean sperm come out of the Jolly Green Giant.

    Hammers | 1:37 am

35. Just imagine if it was a double yolk……ah, the possibilities………

    Dave of the Lake | 7:10 am

36. I picked it up right away, being bi-lingual male might help…. But to reduce visiting a fascinating City (London, Paris, Venice, etc…) with your better half to the last few seconds of an orgasm seems just sexist and opportunistically stupid. Said that the admen would say: “You are all talking about it therefore it did work…” Point taken…

    keep it up petite, we all love to read you, kind of a daily innocuous drug, thanks

    jp | 7:48 am

37. Qu: But where are the old bangers?
    Ans: Victoria rather than Waterloo!

    j | 8:07 am

38. My pommie mate Jim and I leave at 2am to head into central Australia Via the Sturt Stoney desert…

    I have just packed the supplies into the 4wd… there is a tin of beans and eggs…

    I have kept them well apart…

    (I dont think I can eat them! either now) :o(

    simon | 9:11 am

39. It gives a whole new slant on one of the UK advertising campaigns a few decades ago…… “A milion housewives every day pick up a tin of beans and say; Beans means Heinz.” Who is this Heinz guy? Some sort of super stud?

    John | 9:51 am

40. “I guess that egg has bean around…” - Lara

    Clever! hohohoo…..

    kaye | 9:58 am

41. Bon appetite, Petite.

    (The Bold Soul, I’ve thought of it and I suppose the condom stayed hanged on the publicist’s handle’s pan. Unless his brain has conceived a giant one to be slipped on the eurostar just before… well, the Channel is so wet at this time of the year.)

    4 roses | 10:36 am

42. Alistair - as someone who’s just recently read Petite’s archives so has them fairly fresh in the memory, let me point you here

    flechesbleues | 10:59 am

43. Ohhhh,now I get it! I glanced at this for the first time yesterday as I jumped into the train but didn’t take in the picture, just saw an egg and little pile of beans as I whizzed into the tunnel and thought about how I was going to make sure I had a decent English brunch somewhere this weekend. I won’t be looking too closely at my plate though…

    redlady | 11:03 am

44. I found this hilarious when I first saw it a few days ago, but now whenever I pass it I feel rather ill!

    Miranda | 11:11 am

45. You have to admit, its slightly better than ‘How do like your eggs in the morning love?’ Although the standard reply - unfertilised - seems to have missed the advertisers….

    sas | 11:45 am

46. I think they’re denigrating British food as usual by suggesting that having an English breakfast is like eating a mouthful of sperm.

    Susannah | 12:01 pm

47. Advertising genius!

    heather | 1:10 pm

48. Oh C. Now that your blog no longer needs to be kept ‘underground’ from atick in the mud employers let your inner creative free great stuff, keep it coming:)

    David Giorgi | 2:35 pm

49. Does it #46?

    Eggs Beanedict

    Proves le coq sportif must have a pizzle like a mitraillette.

    Rodney | 2:48 pm

50. Tadpole: “Mummmy!!! Can I have my kiri- beetroot- chocolate milkshake now?”
    Petite: “There are still beans on your plate left, honey.”
    Tadpole: “But I finisheded the egg!”
    Petite: “Well you finished your egg, but now you have to finish your beans too, and then get a fine dessert sweetie.”
    Tadpole: “Nooooooooo!! C’est la fin des haricots!
    Petite: “Listen love, if you want to grow up as mummy and daddy… go one fine day on your own… to London by the eurostar… bump into a charming mr frog, or loving mr rosbeef… who will by the way en amoureux offer you plenty of little Tadpoles… to feed with giant sunny eggs… well, you must swallow all your beans.”
    Tadpole: “Are you talking rubbish?”

    4 roses | 3:16 pm

51. Wicked! If they did that in the ‘developing world’ they’d get censored.

    anusree | 3:23 pm

52. With reference to Anna’s post about orange penises, Yaxlich believes that these are a side effect of watching the Adult Channel whilst eating a bumper bag of cheesy Wotsits.

    Yaxlich | 4:11 pm

53. I agree with Bold Soul, you’d never see this in Times Square. We Americans are quite hypocritical in this area. It was really funny until I thought about actually eating it for breakfast and then I sort of lost my appetite. I’ll let other bloggers more clever than me come up with the puns. Unfortunately no matter how entertained I am by the ad, it does nothing to rebut that old cliche about English food being well…yucky. And I love a good, authentic fish and chips after a night of revelry.

    Sam | 5:20 pm

54. My niece explained to me the ad while the metro zoomed past it.
    She also informed me that she was the bean nearest to the egg yolk.
    When I inquired how come she does not look like a hen (ma poule), she frowned and explained to me basic reproductive facts; then she smiled :
    ‘Fait pas le con, tonton!’
    phew!

    papavert | 5:34 pm

55. I am with Katie ( comment 27) in spirit. I remember from way back when, the strapline of the Egg Marketing Board “ Go to work on an egg”. I always had an immature schoolboy snigger in reserve for it. Thanks Petite, no tube/metro adds round this corner of heaven. I love it.

    meredic | 6:24 pm

56. But why would anyone want to eat beans at breakfast anyhow?

    Lost in France | 7:29 pm

57. Bet they weren’t ‘no added salt’ beans!

    petite | 9:39 pm

58. It’s either a gritty Yorkshire answer to Portnoy’s complaint or the HP sauce presentation that lost the account.
    Back in London for a Holy Cow.

    Andrew | 11:48 pm

59. Fabulous travel ad!

    I remember a huge billboard ad in Portugal about a dozen years ago that I thought was wonderful. It was a condom shaped rocket ship, aimed for the heavens, and sitting astride it were two young holidaymakers. The message: “Bom Feria” on the top and “Férias Felizes” at the bottom. I loved the idea of promoting safe sex in such a jolly way.

    Lin | 2:59 am

60. HA! A dirty week-end in London ay?! I doubt anyone’d go for the culinary delights…

    Loved the ad!

    I prefer a spot of ketchup on my eggs. (I do miss Heinz baked beans on toast sometimes).

    Karma | 4:28 am

61. The ad is pure creative genious. But it’s Petite’s title that makes me giggle…

    Jacques5th | 1:38 pm

62. There was recently a segment on the morning news about baked beans. While originally from the USA, the UK has cornered the market: 95% (or was it 93%) of the world’s baked beans are consumed by Britons.

    ellie | 2:47 pm

63. “londres en amoureux” sounds good to me
    but when my girlfriend say
    “les anglais débarquent” ….it’s bad news for few days!!!
    you ask for crude jokes!!! Sorry I’m french! don’t push me futher.

    roland | 3:42 pm

64. Bernhard and Andreia were not with us last night because they went to London for an anniversary weekend. I emailed this advert right before their departure - was that a bit creepy on my part? Tee hee.

    Meg | 3:50 pm

65. Dont put all your eggs in one ovary!

    Insider | 4:11 pm

66. nice to see some wisely made humor, thanks for sharing

    Pilar | 5:40 pm

67. Don’t put your beans in the plate without use a condom, they can traspass the egg!!! and you’ll get transgenic food.

    compuntoes | 6:54 pm

68. seriously, that’s a pretty nasty title petite

    magik | 7:27 pm

69. Commenting on Ellie’s message (62): they must have forgotten that (black) baked beans are eaten by virtually 170 million Brazilians every single day… Or maybe they meant to say that Britons only eat white/red/pink beans?

    Magda | 8:27 pm

70. I soooo miss beans, mrks and spencer moved out of paris I was depressed for 2 days.
    This commercial is really cool though, us French do tend to have a twisted mind, but I don’t think getting it means anything.

    should I translat this in French ?

    drunkenbastard | 9:39 pm

71. I knew that the French authorities were keen to encourage the French “natalité” but de là à envoyer les français do the business in London through the use of imaginative heu… images! Mind you, eggs and baked beans might just do the job re: the upkeep of energy levels!

    Barbadilla | 11:55 pm

72. I just happen to be comment #70, following on the heels of 69.
    I too eat beans every day, I thought it was a Spanish thing, I guess not. (feigning ignorance)

    Caribbean Colors | 1:17 am

73. Swim boyos Swim!

    Danna | 2:49 am

74. So funny. Petite, you make me miss home again.

    Those who harbour any doubts about the intent of the ad can read the full sales pitch here.

    The UK site has an equivalent, but it is pretty tame in comparison.

    ontario frog | 3:45 am

75. To Lost in France
    You’ve not lived till you’ve had full English breakfast:
    Lincolnshire sausages, black pudding, eggs (fried/ scrambled or both), bacon, beans, fried red tomatoes, potato/hash browns, fried bread, toast and last but not least HP sauce (though as a Brummie I’ll probably be boycotting it from now on).

    Have just starting feeling homesick, not to mention hungry

    j | 7:14 am

76. And the egg white would be the…?

    Wonder which restaurant serves that kind of dish, must be helpful in fertilisation…

    (First time visiting this blog)

    malaysian_girl | 10:40 am

77. The old advertising slogan “Go to work on an egg!” suddenly has a whole new meaning…

    As does:
    “How do you like your eggs in the morning?”
    “Unfertilised”

    

    TT.

    TryingTimes | 10:53 am

78. On the Beckham principle, does this mean we can expect lots of French children called Chelsea or Kensington? Tooting or Tufnell Park?

    P | 10:58 am

79. Is it inciting a French postal strike?

    Murphy | 11:22 am

80. Food stylist bending over the plate, deep in concentration.

    A phone rings.

    Food stylist wipes fingers, fishes phone from back pocket without looking, answers.

    “Hello?”

    “Sorry mum, I really can’t talk now - I’m making sperm out of baked beans.”

    Damian | 11:44 am

81. One trusts the egg was free range although the beans look a tad GM.

    Stay sunnyside up lass.

    Adrian | 12:17 pm

82. Baked beans - spit or swallow?

    Salvadore Vincent | 2:43 pm

83. I love baked beans. That’s all I’m saying on the subject.

    petite | 2:50 pm

84. I’ll have mine over easy, thanks.

    roadsofstone | 3:43 pm

85. There’s actually an American movie coming out next Summer called “Knocked Up” (you get the drift, it’s about an unplanned pregnancy), and for now, the poster looks kind of like the egg and beans, but we’ll see. Contrary to what someone posted above, you may see something like that in Times Square.

    CJ | 5:16 am

86. In my experience with girlfriends, the ratio of baked bean lovers (as Petite I’m glad to say is) to those who would rather not, is 50/50, what is the wider experience of others out there?

    David | 2:19 pm

87. That’s eggcellent!

    teeweewonders | 10:33 pm

88. I am quite curious if my boys are that big

    alex | 1:15 pm

89. So funny !
    A good start to tackle the “Not tonight Josephine” issue ;-p

    Olivia | 10:38 pm

90. Oh wow. I’ve never eaten eggs and beans together, but now…I don’t know. I might feel sort of dirty if I did.

    Anias Nin | 7:44 pm

91. Just a quick thank you for posting the Eurostar ad under title ‘Swallow’. Mind you the title swallow diluted the fun of the ad-Breakfast would have done. Anyway, having left Europe for four years now that ad hit home just what I miss-European fun and creativity particularly the English sense. I also miss the full cream milk skin of the English roses. Before I digress - regardless of wrong timing heading - you made an Australian male remember what fun is back in Europe. All Europeans travelling on the Eurostar should be given their tickets with the ad on them. Its all about the fun n’est ce pas. Have a croissant, du fromage, vin rouge etc for me.

    Craig | 3:59 am

92. Thanks for bringing another smile to my face this Sunday morning! :p I think I’ll go and have some beans and eggs right now.

    kim | 4:29 am

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