It was about a month ago yesterday that Meghan Markle announced she was launching her own brand, American Riviera Orchard, and it was reported then that jams and jellies would be part of the inventory. Now we’re actually seeing the jam. On social media yesterday two of her friends posted the first shots of American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam.
Here’s what Tracy Robbins posted on her IG stories:
And here’s what Delfina Blaquier posted on hers:
These are not just randoms. Delfina is married to Nacho Figueras and Tracy Robbins is the wife of Paramount CEO Brian Robbins. Here they are last month on Oscar night – not only were they at the Vanity Fair party, they were also invited to the best party of the night, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Gold Party:
These, then, are influential people and the way some of the media is describing them as influencers without context is kind of misleading. I say this because I don’t know if we can, at this time anyway, say for sure that these are the jams that American Riviera Orchard will be selling when it opens for business.
This is clearly limited edition, shared with close friends. And also clearly meant to generate some anticipation. As you might expect, the British tabloids are already all over this. And social media is all over it. And ARO hasn’t even started official proper marketing yet. But the curiosity is obviously there.
No doubt, it could very well be that these are the jams that will end up being available to the general consumer. But let’s also allow for the possibility that some special people are getting a special edition to generate buzz. Celebrities do this all the time with their product launches. And, as I’ve been saying for years now, Harry and Meghan are celebrities. As such, their performance as celebrities should be analysed along the same lines.
Right now, we don’t know all that much about American Riviera Orchard. As of this writing, there’s nothing on the website, nothing on Instagram except for the logo. Which means the brand’s philosophy has not yet been declared. We can make assumptions, of course, because of what we think we know of Harry and Meghan and also from these promotional jams, it seems to confirm some of the presumptions that people have been making. Small batch, farmers market vibes. The raffia, the quaint jar topper – it’s giving bougie homemade. And… on trend?
Maria’s been posting about the whole “trad wife” thing in Celebrity Social Media lately and, well, that’s where my mind went to. Harry’s doing a polo doc, Meghan’s home and gardening… so, like, sports and domestics? Meghan Markle leaning into her trad wife groove…but make it Montecito. LOL.
Anyway, like I said, at the moment, ARO still hasn’t released any actual information about what it’s all about so all of this is really just assumptions. Will be interested to see what they actually lead with when they’re ready for broadcast and what the products actually are that will be on sale to the rest of us.
Let's Squawk about Meghan's jam today! (app link here)
Attached - More shots of Harry and Meghan filming with Netflix on the weekend in Florida.
