Parents – have you ever been stood in a supermarket shopping queue
that seems to never decrease in size, this whilst simultaneously being
nagged endlessly by your children for chocolate and/or sweets which are
convenient placed right at the end of each and every checkout. If so,
you are not alone, and this is the dilemma faced by millions of parents
around Britain who are being harassed by their children into buying the
unhealthy junk food stacked up at the checkouts.
In fact, a new survey has found that a staggering 90% of shoppers
believe this cunning sales tactic is partly contributing to obesity and
surely now the Government will be forced to push through legislation
aimed at stopping this practice, and easing the spiralling obesity crisis.
On Monday a campaign was launched called
‘Junk Free Checkouts’ which does exactly what it says on the tin – aims
to make supermarket checkouts free of junk and help to put an end to the
‘pester power’ of children who almost bully their parents into buying
them unhealthy and high sugary treats that are placed near the tills.
The initiative was announced by the British Dietetic Association and
the Children’s Food Campaign, following the results of a nationwide
survey in which 78% of people complained that junk food at supermarket
checkouts is ‘annoying’. Moreover, 83% of respondents said they had been
nagged by their children for junk food at the checkouts and 75% have
relented and bought junk for their children due to incessant pestering.
There was almost 2,000 people who completed the Chuck the Junk
Survey, mainly comprising of women, of which two thirds had children.
Supermarkets have been pressured by health campaigners for a number
of years to stop selling unhealthy junk food at their tills as they say
it is blatantly targeted at easily swayed children and the promotional
offers do not help matters on what has been described as the ‘guilt
lanes’.
Speaking on behalf of the British Dietetic Association, obesity
specialist Linda Hindle commented: “Retailers are unwilling to stop
pushing unhealthy food at the checkout and queuing areas. It may be
lucrative for them but, as our survey found, it is deeply unpopular with
customers and nudges purchasing behaviour in the wrong direction. If
retailers can’t act on their own, then we hope to see robust action from
the Government to tackle this problem.”
The issue was raised in Government back in July when health minister
Anna Soubry blasted supermarkets for the cynical store layouts which
make it particularly difficult for parents with young children. However,
she then ruled out any clampdown on the sweet and chocolate guilt lanes
in shops and supermarkets, merely days after making a vow to get rid of
them.
Some of the worst offenders in this regard have found to be Asda,
Morrisons and Tesco, all stocking an alarming amount of junk food at
their tills.
Campaigners have hit out at Supermarkets for seemingly not acting on
promises to improve their methods in selling confectionery in the wake
of a 2003 investigation by the independent watchdog the Food Commission.
There are those who say that stocking checkout aisles with chocolate
and sweets is a calculating ploy by the supermarkets to tempt shoppers
into a sugar rush after a long, laborious trek around the supermarket.
Professor of marketing at EM-Lyon Business School, Agnes Nairn, said
that shoppers could change their buying habits by the point of reaching
the checkout. “Consumers are more likely to go for something unhealthy
when they are tired because they aren’t able to make the rational
decision they would make otherwise,” she said. “Although they all know
that a chocolate egg is not as good for them as fruit salad, if you have
to do that in a hurry, they make the wrong choice.”
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