Reading Between the Lines

Being in the marketing business, in my professional capacity, I take great notice of the signs and notices that seem to be plastered everywhere, designed with the sole aim of capturing our attention. If the offer is tempting enough, we are urged to respond by taking action; buying, using or visiting whatever is being promoted.

This is all well and good until, more often than not, we go online, or pop into a shop, only to find that what has drawn us in is not at all as it first appears to be. The best example of this are the signs offering heavy discounts, shouting ‘50% off’ or similar. It is only up close that it becomes apparent that in very small print it qualifies the offer by saying ‘up to’. Surprise, surprise, the majority of items on offer, whether it be clothing, food or holidays, is not available at the lower price, leaving us feel cheated. The purpose of course, is to entice us and then hope, that despite our initial disappointment, we will linger long enough to make a purchase. Personally, I feel conned and resist buying anything because I feel I have been lured in under false pretences.

In the same way, we can easily get caught out in relation to travel and health insurance, car insurance, home insurance, breakdown cover; the list is endless. Often this runs into many pages of the tiniest small print. The number of times I have been unwittingly caught out in this way is embarrassingly high. Companies are very keen to make sure that we keep to our side of the contract, whilst at the same time doing everything they can to wriggle out of their obligations.

My big bugbear concerns some of the food items I buy regularly. On the move for most of the day, and finding that there is virtually nowhere to get a meal between 5pm and 7pm, I frequently resort to processed items, or ready meals that can be quickly heated.

I am fairly choosy about what I buy, but prefer not to have to read packaging and labels in any great depth. Depending on my mood, I will be attracted to illustrations on the packet and also how the food in question is labelled. Increasingly though I get home to find that what I thought I had bought was not what it seemed to be. I recently purchased a meal for one from one of our upmarket supermarkets that was labelled ‘Wiltshire Ham & Cauliflower Cheese Bake’. I had not noticed that in much smaller print underneath it stated ‘with diced potato and a crunchy cheese & bacon crumb’.  My point is that on closer inspection the potatoes, deserving only a minor mention, did in fact make up 17% of the overall ingredients used, more than anything else, including the ham (16%). According to Trading Standards the ingredients must be listed by weight from the most to the least contained in the product. 

Sadly this is not an isolated example; I probably encounter this on a weekly basis. The fact is that we are often paying through the nose for less expensive ingredients, whilst being lured into making a purchase on the basis of the key ingredients that take prominence on the packaging.