Last but not least: Brodworscht over Broadway

 
At this year's Olma, the regional butchers' association will be awarding a prize for the best commercial for Olma bratwurst. A total of 26 commercials were submitted by the closing date, which will be judged by a jury headed by President Kurt Felix over the next few weeks. The winner of the "Olma-Brodworscht-Öski" (Oscar), endowed with CHF 4000, will be announced at the Olma on October 17, 2007, as reported by the SDA on Tuesday. The background to the apparently unique competition is the legal protection of the best-known St. Gallen sausage specialties; the butchers have registered these with the Federal Office for Agriculture as a protected geographical indication (PGI). The aim of the competition is to support the protection of St. Gallen and Olma sausages. The 26 commercials can already be viewed on the Olmabratwurst.ch website.
What is remarkable about this farce in Eastern Switzerland is that the name protection of the St. Gallen sausages is being celebrated by stealing the well-known and certainly protected name Oscar. It is doubtful that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the somewhat less rustic Oscar every year, has contacted us about the name theft. But who knows, maybe there will be St. Gallen sausages made in China at the Academy Awards next February.