On Opal Fruits, Starburst and Lambeth 2022
by Martin Davie:
Lambeth resolutions and Lambeth Calls
When I was a child, I was fond of Opal Fruits, chewy, coloured, fruit flavoured sweets that were, as the advert for them said, ‘made to make your mouth water.’ However, except for brief revivals in 2008 and 2021, from 1998 onwards Opal Fruits were no more. Mars , who manufactured them, re-branded them with the global name Starburst and Starburst they have remained. Happily, however, although the name has changed the product has not. They are still same chewy, colourful, fruit flavoured pieces of confectionary I remember from my childhood. The name has changed, the thing signified by the name has remained the same.
Another example of the same phenomenon is the recent decision by the Turkish government to change the official name of their country from Turkey to Türkiye. According to news reports this change of name has been prompted by a desire to avoid people confusing the country called Turkey with the large bird traditionally consumed at Christmas and Thanksgiving. According to the Turkish state broadcaster TRT:
‘ ‘Turkey’ brings up a muddled set of images, articles, and dictionary definitions that conflate the country with Meleagris – otherwise known as the turkey, a large bird native to North America – which is famous for being served on Christmas menus or Thanksgiving dinners.’[1]
However, as in the case of Opal Fruits and Starburst, the thing signified by the name Türkiye will remain the same as the thing signified by the name Turkey. It will be the same country, but with a slightly different official name.
I was prompted to think about these two examples by the recent announcement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has decided that this year’s Lambeth Conference will not have ‘resolutions’ but will instead have ‘Lambeth Calls.’
In the short video made by the archbishop to explain what is meant by Lambeth Calls[2] the introduction explains that:
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