Has the bonfire of the brands been snuffed? There are signs that the shift to private label goods is waning. General Mills produced surprisingly good first-quarter results on Wednesday, with decent sales growth along the supermarket aisle. That followed an optimistic outlook from ConAgra on Tuesday and an August where branded food gained dollar market share from private label for the first time in three years.

Yet to declare trading down over would be premature – soft comparisons are helping. A year ago, consumers were in shock as the financial system was imploding. High agricultural commodity prices hurt premium products especially hard and squeezed profits. As the pressure on costs eases, manufacturers have more cash available for advertising and promotion – General Mills’ first-quarter marketing bill was up 16 per cent on the previous year.