For quite some time now I have refused - actively refused - to buy any product which has a picture of a person's face on it. Some of you may have noticed that as you walk down the Supermarket isle you are constantly bombarded with people's faces - on food - as if this person's head makes the food more tasty. please log in to view this image Why oh why does a picture of Ainsley Harriott's big baldy napper entice people to buy a bag of Rice? I can only presume that there are some very clever scientist people out there who have done studies on these things, and they have no doubt figured out that putting a happy baldy head on this product does indeed entice the housewife to choose your bag of rice over the competitors. For some reason, it would appear, the human mind is that easily influenced that the appearance of a known face on a product should convince you to buy this product. 'Not me', I say, I am not that easily influenced by this Jedi Mind Trick - I'll always choose the product that doesn't have a head on it, that'll learn 'em. It is not even the fact that they put heads on things, but if you look carefully they only ever put heads on premium products - as in products which have much bigger margins than other products. So for instance if you feel like doing it the old fashioned way and flavour your own rice then you could buy some Tesco plain rice - but look: please log in to view this image Some very clever Tesco mind ****er has deliberately chosen this packaging. He has designed this packaging because he does not want you to buy this product - that's correct, they want to make their cheap rice look like some 'Aid for Africa' product - they want you to say 'screw this, I'm not cheap, I'm buying the Ainsley Harriot rice which is endorsed by some person I've previously heard of'. And of course they make about a 50% margin on the Ainsley rice while only making about 10% on the African Aid rice (and they only offer the African Aid rice because they don't want to lose out on the low end of the market, who only have enough resources to buy such things). It wouldn't even be that bad if there was always a choice - but being a single working man 4 nights a week I'm quite partial to the odd quick microwave meal - and I like Chinese. But try going into Tesco and finding a Chinese ready meal that doesn't have a picture of Ken Hom's head on it: please log in to view this image My Isle of Man Tesco simply don't sell any other ready meals apart from Ken Hom - so no matter if I like Ken Hom or not, a proportion of the money I spend on a Chinese ready meal will be forwarded his way for the use of his baldy head. Anyway my annoyance at the emergence of heads was silently bubbling away until, one day, I wander into Iceland to buy the only Soda Bread available to purchase on the Isle of Man - and then I notice that they have changed their supplier, to a more 'Premium' product... please log in to view this image Why Iceland Why!?
Fools and their money are easily parted Mick. I've said for years that 80% of the Public are morons and I have yet to see anything disprove my notion. Name placement on products is a simple yet effective marketing ploy but even the most gullible surely realise that if some celebrity is endorsing a product, then they are making a hefty wedge from it - thereby inflating the price, but they still buy it even though they know it's a rip off. Same as branded foods, Heinz Beans are no better than 10p beans from Lidl or Aldi yet people buy them because of the brand.
I buy tesco rice. Its packaging doesn't throw me off. Think we need to get that sand out your vagina mick.
The only stuff i've ever bought with someone's face on it is pasta sauce. The joy of being a veggie is that you don't have to bother with ready-made ****ty meals. I barely spend any cash on food. You don't have to.
Can't say I've tried Lidl or Aldi but I have various other brands and Heinz taste right whereas many others don't.
They taste "Different" that's all in my opinion. Many unbranded foods are made by the same companies who make the branded versions, the ingredients may be slightly different and the taste may be different but once you get used to it there is nothing to choose between them. Heinz beans don't contain truffles or Caviar yet they can be up to 5 times more expensive.
Even if I had a well paid job I'd still not spend a fortune in shops. I'd probably still shop in farmfoods tae.
Fresh cooked rice is much nicer than that microwave stuff no matter what bits and bobs they put in it.
But in seriousness there are exceptions. Compare Tesco Thai Green Curry to the Lloyd Grossman equivalent. Night and day
