Morning enn,
you may well believe there is nothing intellectually challenging about making nutritious choices -------- entire industries feel different.
And, in any case - in the chance that you are correct ------------ all that means is we still have a problem, and a big one.
I believe totally differently. I believe ------------
This issue is anything but – SIMPLE.
This is a war and has multiple battlefields ------- only a very few of which I shall mention.
The war starts at home ------------ advertising in a whole variety of ways ---------------- including ------------- giving of false information on what is healthy and what is not.
How do you know lean meat, vegetables and fruit is good for you?
Someone told you.
Why would you believe them any more so than you would believe the low fat, healthy product writing on a cardboard box?
Why do you believe Olive Oil is healthy --------- although it turns into a deadly toxin at higher cooking temperatures?
You are surrounded by information ---------------------- much of it true and much of it misinformation.
You are also surrounded by a vacuum – a LACK of information ----------- even more deadly. What don’t people tell you about fruit from your supermarket. Fish from your supermarket and red/white meats?
Who knows.
How do you sort out what is right and what is wrong ----------- you can be the most responsible person in the world --------------- but, how do you sort the wheat from the chaff?
All the while at home and in every facet of life, you are bombarded with people telling you what is healthy and what is not ---------- and others hiding information from you – in short BILLIONS of dollars of advertising spend to brainwash you.
Now ----------- after that softening up --------------- you realise it’s time to visit the supermarket.
Round 2 ------------------- you pick up the car keys.
Now, you wouldn't think the duopoly could have much effect in that little move would you?
However ----------- who do you buy your fuel from? ------------------------- Do you really think that they control most of the petrol sales in the Nation purely for the reason that they want to sell petrol? What are the spin-offs of being able to control the price of fuel nationally?
How about ------------ distances travelled to SUPERmarkets ------------------ get the word, supermarkets.
Do you think it is just coincidence that there aren’t smaller supermarkets every half a kilometre or so? Do you think it coincidence that they aren’t 20 kilometres apart? --------- Or, do you think it just might be designed so you can get there at just the right amount of days apart that is suitable for their stock and profit?
Well, while you think about that on your way to buy lean meat, vegetable and fruit ------------ you will notice that you cannot buy those products anywhere else much these days ---------------- whole small business wiped out by predatory pricing ---------------------- another battlefield long lost that we blissfully drive by on our way to the next battle ground --------------- the supermarket carpark.
And, you thought you just parked the car there, didn’t you?
You might notice also ------------- it’s a car park ------------- hundreds of car parks. Not hundreds of bike parks and not many pedestrians expected ----------------------------- CARS. Those same cars that fill up with duopoly fuel ---------------- no coincidence here --------- battlefield tactics again.
Note the signage in the car park ------ well, you will have to look -------- why? Because mostly you see it subconsciously ---------- and that, is exactly the idea -------- you are in a minefield already and you don’t even know.
Now you enter the main battlefield --------- the war is already won by the way – but you are oblivious to that. Enter, the supermarket door ----------- LIGHTS, CAMERAS, TRACKING, SMELLS, ACTION.
Mood modification tactics, disruptive practices ------- slowing you down, making you feel good, making you drop your guard and all the while – at every aisle, every row, every turn and the majority of products --------- re-educating you to what is healthy and what is not.
Re-educating you to what is value. Value to margin of course.
Pick up a trolley --------- hmmm, simple enough --------- but what an amazing device to generate profit (there is a link below for this 1938 invention). Now, to shop.
There are a million tricks -------- many listed below. Billions spent on research and development to know how you think, how you act and how you react and revaluate in the light of new information.
So, you are a responsible person who takes this seriously ---------- and, without education you have all this sussed out and you have avoided all the pitfalls and made it all the way to the back of the store to where your lean meat is -------- a long way from your fruit and vegetable – another trek sideways.
Now, what do you find? You find your lean meats ------- probably starting about $15 a kilo and going up to about $40 a kilo -------- not exactly cheap. And, there is another complication --------- you just know that a lot say red meat is a baddie. So, do you look at white meat? Well, probably ---------- so, you look at chicken ------ fish is somewhere else yet again – that will be through yet another minefield.
So, you look at the chicken ---------- you look for lean. You notice there are some healthy looking brands ------- hormone free and chemical free it says – so, it must be true.
The mere fact that all chicken in Australia has been hormone free for about 40 years makes the advertising on certain packets, well, lets say it could lead you to think that the other chickens are chockers with hormones ---------- hmmm.
So, you grab your chicken and off your go -------------- fishing.
All the while you just normally don't notice being slowed up by stock stacked in you way and different flooring slowing your progress -------- links below. (I cannot remember the term used to disrupt your journey through supermarket aisles – but it is the same as barbed wire entanglements to slow soldiers down during an attack --------------- what is done is to stack produce in such a way that your clear movement is impeded – hence you slow down and look closer. Battlefield design.)
More marketing minefields along the way of course – but, you are on a mission. So, you arrive at the fish counter ---------------- whoops, now we really have a minefield. Wild or farmed, Aussie or imported, whole or filleted, white or dark, upper food chain or lower, cheap or expensive, shellfish as well? OMG ------------- I thought this was simple.
Of course you know how you are going to cook it ------------- you can’t keep giving the family just grilled fish – everyone is bored with that – so it will have to be pan fried or battered or crumbed or baked ---- using which
Oil? ---------- of course. Olive ----------- hmmmm, Olive at high temps? Hmmmm, maybe I had better check that.
So you decide on the fish and off you go -------------- no idea at all where it came from – even wild Australia doesn't tell you much -------- even a general location doesn't tell you much. ------------ Try a bream from Tassie and see how good you are. Try some Atlantic salmon --------------------- maybe check out what they are fed first ------------ but, of course, you KNOW salmon is good for you
- well, wild salmon is eh?
So, where are we ------- meat, fish --------------- off to the veggie and fruit section ------------------- surely we can’t get into much bother there eh?
Have you noticed that much of the fruit looks, well, lovely. Have you also noticed that when you get it home -------- much of it doesn't look, shall we say, quite as lovely? Have you also noticed that by some trick of magic, even though it survived a long time in storage until you bought it -------- that it is basically inedible within 48 hours of it being in your fruit bowl or even fridge?
Do you think this is coincidence or might there be some design there to make you run back to the supermarkets in a couple of days because you are a responsible healthy eater and you have run out of fruit? You might also note that although the fruit looked ok, it didn't taste as good as it looked -------- and, it tasted NOTHING like something you had in the country once that was fresh off the tree. Interesting.
There is a complete design minefield you are standing in in the veggie/fruit section ----------- an entire battlefield and you are more than likely completely oblivious to the shots being fired both presently and in the leadup to your trip to the supermarket ------------ entire wars have been fought, won and lost to get you to this point and to get you to return to this spot in a few days.
And you thought buying fresh lean meat, veggies and fruit was a simple matter of choice.
You have been misinformed, mislead, educated, re-educated, set up, funnelled to exactly where the duopoly wants you to go, you park where they want you, you move through the stores where they want you, you move at the speed they want you, you look at what they want you to look, you buy what they want you to buy, you go home thinking you have done you best, and they reinforce this at every opportunity outside and inside your home.
The food industry spends BILLIONS on this collective societal and environmental brainwash using every psychological trick in the book using 100,000 years of human study ---------- they completely dominate the conditions you shop in ---------- including light, sound, smell and feel.
And, you think this is simple personal responsibility and more so ------------------------------ choice.
In the face of this TOTAL war ----------- you actually think people ‘choose’.
Below is a hotch potch of info. mainly on supermarkets ----------- but, the reality is that the war is won before you even enter their doors.
Have a great day all
Pinto -----------
“There’s a reason your mother told you to make a grocery list and stick to it. Every part of the supermarket from parking lot to checkout counter is designed to make you spend more money and buy more food than you need.”
http://www.*.com.au/supermarkets-ma...our-cart-is-empty-and-your-spirits-are-high-2
“Most supermarkets put high margin departments like floral and fresh baked goods near the front door, so you encounter them when your cart is empty and your spirits are high.”
“Another reason to start with flowers and baked goods is the smell, which activates your salivary glands and makes you more likely to make impulse purchases. Likewise these pleasant departments put you in a good mood and make you more willing to spend”
“Supermarkets hide dairy products and other essentials on the back wall so that you have to go through the whole store to get to them.”
“Most stores move customers from right to left. Due to this flow and and the practice of driving on the right side of the road, the items you are most likely to buy tend to be on the right hand of the aisle.” (this is the USA)
“The items the store really wants you to buy are at eye level. In the cereal aisle, for instance, bulk cereal is placed at the bottom. Healthy cereal is placed at the top. Expensive brand name cereal goes right at eye level. favoured items are also placed at the end of aisles.”
Another trick is to have floor tiles in strategic places to slow the trolley down. -------- again, design of the battlefield.
Supermarket trolley -------- invented 1937 – to entice customers into larger purchases.
“……customers stop buying as full baskets become too heavy to carry..”
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ht_nAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=supermarket trolley design&source=bl&ots=Lb0ez6rVop&sig=nneDw0bD5yNRo1vIwYXZxNDuxRE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2Ny1U8nYNYbjkAWbh4DABA&ved=0CF8Q6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q=supermarket trolley design&f=false
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-supermarket-mind-games-make-spend-more.html
http://www.rd.com/slideshows/supermarket-tricks/#slideshow=slide1
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...ing-us-spend-big/story-fnihsrf2-1226861335232
This one is Aussie -------- and there is misinformation in it --------------- profit on fresh --------------------------- not exactly true – in fact, a long way from true.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/money/2013/12/16/supermarket-tricks-how-they-make-us-spend-more/