Less is more — more or less

Those of a certain age will remember the advertising mantra, “The thicker the block, the better the choc.” The rhythm and rhyme worked together to convince us the claim was true.

Their new slogan could be, ‘Less is more.’

Those of a certain age will remember the advertising mantra, “The thicker the block, the better the choc.” The rhythm and rhyme worked together to convince us the claim was true. The chocolate company has grown older and wiser and appears to have had a change of heart. Their new slogan could be, “Less is more.” “The smaller the block, the more reasonably-priced the choc.” Sorry but I can’t make it sing like the original. It’s not the first time the confectionery giant has done this and I’m sure they’ll lose a fair number of fans because of it. A few years ago, the family-sized block of this brand of chocolate was reduced from 220g to 200g. The new change will see it reduced to 180g. Either I’m missing something or families are getting smaller. And don’t you love the way the company tries to present the change in a favourable light. “Rather than raising the recommended retail price, we’ve made the call to reduce the size of our family blocks so that they can continue to be an affordable treat for all Kiwis.” This is classic spin. Within my lifetime, the family block could be down to 50g. After my demise, it may well disappear completely though there might still be a nominal charge. The paradoxical phrase “less is more” is an interesting one. It was used — possibly for the first time — in the 1855 Robert Browning poem,

Andrea del Sarto. More famously, however, it is associated with the field of architecture and the name Mies van der Rohe. For him, the expression defined a modernist ethic. In his architecture he tried to reduce art and technics into simple forms and influenced later masters such as Le Corbusier. Even more recently the phrase has been associated with French designer Philippe Starck. “The designer today should not help to produce more — he has to help produce fewer and better things. There is a beauty, an aesthetic and philosophy of the less.” In our house, in our own modest way, we tend to live by the “less is more” principle. Neither of us likes clutter. Ornaments are OUT. Those home renovation shows on TV seem to agree with us on this. In such programmes, the first step is generally to declutter the house. Other people, however, see what we call clutter as desirable and homely. Each to his own, of course. The less is more principle certainly applies to writing and nothing sums that up more succinctly than this quote from Blaise Pascal: “I would have written a shorter letter but I did not have the time.” You can, I suppose, take the principle too far. I recently saw an example of this when driving through, I think, Horowhenua (“The Horizons Region”). A large roadside billboard had pared its message down to two words: “Choose Jesus.” I could not help feeling more was needed in this case. I wanted to put other billboards alongside it: What are the options? Where are the polling booths? Of course, all trends come and go. How many more times will black be the new black, for example? Within this very century, will we see cluttered becoming the new austere? I’d like to finish by trying to help the chocolate company sell its “less is more” approach. I’ve made up a few slogans which they are free to use (though I am willing to accept chocolate as a thank you). “Chocolate is nice when it’s still the same price.” “Some choc may have gone but the old price lives on.” They could work. More or less.