Exploiting public holidays is nothing new for retailers - Easter buns have been in stores since the new year - but Coles has taken it to a whole new level by commissioning ''exclusive'' products, which range from canned beetroot to disposable nappies.

Tomato sauce maker MasterFoods, part of the Mars food group, is even offering a ''limited edition'' blue plastic bottle of sauce, rather than the usual red.

Arnott's, owned by another US group, has produced a special Australia-shaped (Tasmania misses out, again) version of its Shapes savoury biscuit brand labelled as ''Aussie BBQ meat lovers''.

Coles has even ''hijacked'' a promotion started by the tea-maker Twinings that features a new ''Australian Afternoon Tea'' blend, devised by the former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd won a competition against celebrities including actor Hugh Jackman and surfer Layne Beachley to produce the tea, which was launched at a Coles store in suburban Brisbane last week.

Coles is understood to have negotiated exclusivity for the tea for a period of time.

Twinings also describes the tea as a ''limited edition'', which means that its survival on the shelf will depend on its popularity.

Even the front cover of the home-delivered Coles catalogues this week reminds customers that it is ''proudly Australian since 1914''.

Perhaps the only blowfly in Coles's barbecue is that the Golden Circle brand canned corn package chosen for the promotion actually comes from New Zealand.

Although Coles says that the promotion has been under way for some time, industry sources suggest that the concept was only put together in the past couple of months.

Coles is understood to have approached many more of its suppliers than the eight products that agreed to relabel limited production runs of their goods with Australian flags and ''only at Coles'' stamps.

Interestingly, no alcohol brands are featured in the marketing exercise.

While Coles worked with its suppliers on the redesigns, as is usual with products promoted in supermarket catalogues and in stores, the cost of the changes has been borne by the manufacturers.

Suppliers say, though, that Coles agreed to specific volumes of products in the new livery - and promised to keep the products until they were sold, rather than return unsold merchandise and seek a refund from suppliers.