Does toy hint at mutiny on the Birdseye?
FOR 50 years he has done his duty to persuade children to eat fish fingers.
But Captain Birdseye’s work has apparently counted for nothing – as a military buff spotted that he has been demoted.
Rather than a captain’s four stripes on his jacket cuff, a soft toy being given away to mark his half-century has only two – making him a lieutenant.
Paddy Stevenson, 51, wrote to Birds Eye demanding it reinstate the sailor to his ‘proper rank’. Mr Stevenson, from Wylam, Northumberland, said: ‘I was just watching the advert and I thought “What’s going on?”
‘This oversight is absolutely appalling. Has he been court-martialled?’
The war games enthusiast, who claims a fish finger sandwich is one of his favourite foods, even attached a diagram of Royal Navy cuff insignia for the company’s reference.
Pointing out that the Admiral car insurance mascot has the correct insignia – three narrow stripes and one broad one – Mr Stevenson, added: ‘I’ve been following the Captain since the 70s when I was a child.
‘If they have demoted him for no reason, I’ll have to buy my fish fingers elsewhere.’
Entering into the spirit of the exchange, Birds Eye replied: ‘Paddy, it’s clear the Captain can’t sail anything past you – he does regularly alternate his uniform.
‘Why? Well, Captain Birdseye isn’t one to brag about his sailing feats (only his freshly caught fish!).
‘As a modest leader, he opts for a more approachable day-to-day look, wearing his Lieutenant’s uniform with pride to reassure his fellow comrades that you don’t need stripes to enjoy good fish.’
The distinction assumes that he is a Royal Navy man, of course – while Birds Eye said his service records were unavailable yesterday, his roll-neck jumper has seen many take him for a merchant seaman, in which case two stripes would make him a second officer.
Although he has ‘retired’ several times – on one occasion even meriting an obituary in The Times – the captain is currently being played by South African actor Mitch Commins.