By Matthew Kennedy – From the 2015/16 Intake

Do Good Cheese

Perhaps I should be reflecting on my scholarship effort but to be honest I could do with thinking about something else – so a story about cheese seems a good place to start…

On my interview day, a few people in the group were tussling with their morals and whether their left wing philosophises would fit into the grimy advertising underworld.

So for those still battling with this, I point you to Massimo Bottura. A man worthy of far too many flamboyant adjectives for his own good. If I could get away with having a poster of him on my wall I would.

In May 2012 the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy was stuck by an earthquake. Nearly a 1,000 huge wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano were damaged, threatening to end a cheese with a history stretching back 6000 years.

So Massimo created a recipe. Made entirely of Parmigiano and rice sourced from the small villages affected by the earthquake. The recipe was picked up on all over the world and the region sold out of Parmigiano. Hundreds of jobs were saved.

Massimo harnessed his creativity and capitalism to do good. I’m not saying advertising will always be able to do that or even need to. But maybe advertising isn’t all that bad.