Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 8, 1993 TAG: 9302080034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
STRICTLY A MATTER OF TASTE
If it sells coffee, maybe it will sell books. That seems to be the idea behind "Love Over Gold," a novel based on a TV commercial for instant coffee.Just in time for Valentine's Day, the book takes up the story of the cool, elegant woman and the cheerful hunk who like their coffee quick and hot, their romance coy and simmering.
In Britain, where the product is called Nescafe Gold Blend, the flirtation is now in its fifth smash-hit year. In the United States, the couple's coffee is called Taster's Choice.
The story seems to rank just below Charles and Diana in public interest. When the hunk said "I love you" in a commercial shown in December, the news made page one of The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling tabloid.
The British ads are slightly different than the American version, and ad executives said recently they had not decided the pace of the U.S. story line. The "I love you" segment has not appeared in the United States.
The book - which bills itself as "the untold story of TV's greatest romance" - retails for $5.75 and Corgi Books printed 150,000 to start.
"It's a good read," author Susan Moody told reporters Sunday at the Ritz Hotel. "It's all done in extremely good taste. . . . There's nothing particularly explicit about it."
What is explicit is the commercialism. Nestle and its advertising agency, McCann-Erickson, as owners of the characters, are eager to discuss film rights. The book also includes an order blank for a video of all the commercials.
Moody, who used the pen name Susannah Jones for the book, has supplied both characters with murky pasts and broken hearts. When they meet in London, he's drunk. On page 80 she runs out of coffee, and knocks at his door:
"Almost automatically she walked towards his kitchen, conscious of his gaze on her back, her somewhat naked back, glad, without knowing quite why, that she was looking particularly glamorous that evening. He opened a cupboard, took out her favorite brand of coffee, and said, `I hope this isn't too sophisticated for your guests.' "
It's not too sophisticated for Britons, who prefer instant 10-to-1 over brewed coffee. Sales of Gold Blend have increased 40 percent since the commercials started, according to Super Marketing magazine.
Moody, who also writes the Penny Wanawake detective books, offered no excuses for the book.
"I was asked if I would like a certain sum of money for what they said at the time was six weeks' work, and I said, `Who do I have to sleep with?' " she said in an interview.
"I just write because somebody pays me for doing what I like doing best. . . . I'm not here with messages for mankind."