It's a shame we can't harness the power of blame

Councils blame supermarkets for £1.8bn cost of excess packaging

I hold no candle for the supermarkets (lord knows, they have not made my, or Junkk.com's life very easy with their arrogant, money-grubbing ways), but 'they' seem to have become a very convenient whipping entity for failings across the whole system, from the time a product's raw materials are dug up from to when they are returned to the ground.

At the end of the day, as it is with 99.99999% of life, it is about money. Spend the least you get get away with, and make the most. From the individual to the corporation to the establishment.

All complicated by 'systems' that have evolved over decades if not centuries, and which only now are being required to make radical adjustments. And as most will appreciate, with complex systems a tweak here can have 'consequences' there.

It's interesting to ponder what a supermarket publishing the amount of packaging they produce will do to help me with my decisions. Or what goes in my bin. The stuff is either necessary, or it is not. And seemingly ignores the brands whose products sit upon those shelves too. Not all in my basket is own label.

It seems quite simple, and that is an attempt to push costs from one place to another. But at the end of the day if it goes from my rate demand to my shopping bill the same person ends up paying.

Now, if there is a way for me to influence what I pay downwards via decisions based on packaging impositions then I can see a glimmer of an end-benefit and hence value. But until there is a properly coordinated cradle to grave packaging materials creation/disposal system this mostly smacks of box-ticking and target-meeting to help public servants in LAs and quangos drive bonuses their way.

For something that costs the consuming public nothing, and then goes on to save both pocket and planet in a small way, may I commend Junkk.com to those who would like to do something proactive as others bicker.

It even offers rewards with a competition for neat reuse ideas on plastic at the moment!

CATEGORY - SHOPPING, SUPERMARKETS, RETAIL

Articles

Observer - At the supermarket -

Packing 'em in

I just got back last night from a two-day trip to an intellectual property conference in Glasgow.

And it was one to which I had been invited to as a speaker. The roller-coaster ride that is RE:tie was and still is deemed to be an interesting study. And this time it was in the awesome, but imposing setting of the University's stunning Bute Hall.

Mostly pretty high-end legal stuff which was waaaay over my head, but some useful material which I'll share here for budding researchers and/or inventors. One of my points was that those who 'create' are often not that well served by the highly necessary complementary business aspects to get to sustainable models, and that is often down to not knowing about a lot that is in fact out there for free.

For instance, a speaker from the IPO shared these latest, and highly useful IP tools on their site:

Lambert Agreements - http://www.innovation.gov.uk/lambertagreements/

Gowers Review - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/licensingbooklet.pdf

Patent Licensing - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/licensingbooklet.pdf

IP Healthcheck - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/iphealthcheck - worth doing!

Meanwhile another speaker, from the British Library, shared this:

Business & IP Centre - http://www.bl.uk/bipc/

Plus the fact that they really do have an awful lot of information available that one might not realise is there to be had. For instance, I have been staring at a price of £1200 for a report on the packaging market for bottle caps, and wishing I could have a look. Seems that, via the Library, I may be able to just that! For nothing.

And then, in the course of some spirited discussion between podium and floor, I ended up with some key offers of direct help which I am hoping will prove highly valuable.

One little bit of Kismet was that the very day I spoke the news media were alive with top stories about packaging, and manufacturers and retailers were not coming out well and/or struggling to find and share solutions, and certainly few that would be deemed positive in a consumer sense.

As I was there I missed them, but have had a quick trawl to try and capture a few. They did not hurt my advocacy for Junkk.com or the cause of RE:tie, a redesign that turns grams of plastic from litter or landfill... to reuse.

Telegraph - 'Excessive' supermarket packaging is leading to higher council tax bills
Examples included Britvic saving 1,670 tons of plastic a year by redesigning Robinsons squash bottles
Telegraph - M&S bottom of packaging recycling list - Time for Plan, er... reuse?
Telegraph - There is a Plan B - with a link to a comment I made a while ago! One of ... two so far, even with the revisit.
Telegraph - Packaging 'sinks Marks & Spencer green bid' - Not a headline I fancy they will appreciate. To be fair, and the MSM seem hardly capable of this when a good headline beckons, the last para does suggest 'M&S disputed the research, which looked at 29 of their 5,500 products, and said 91 per cent of their food packaging could be recycled.' Might have been worth a follow-up to check? Or... moving on.
Telegraph - M&S worst supermarket in green report - Archive stuff, but when you end up bottom I guess that is what gets focused upon. Especially if you make some big claims that seem poorly borne out in fact.

Times - Supermarkets fail to shine in packaging study to find the greenest of them all - Interesting that they single out Waitrose instead. It is worth noting the first comment that councils, or rather the national policies, are by no means helping.

Indy - Pay packaging recycling costs, stores told - Just so's we're clear: when they pay... we pay.

Guardian - Supermarkets' excessive packaging exposed by survey - I'm surprised there was not more comment.

Packaging News - Supermarket 'excess packaging' report dismissed as "nonsense"
Packaging News - Retailers fight back as media storm erupts over 'excess packaging'
Packaging News - Soap Box: packaging's public image
Packaging News - The LGA's 'War on Waste': a response

An industry response that is, as might be expected.. 'robust'. But before we go all Mandy Rice Davis WeTWoST (Well, They Would Say That), read some of the responses. Not sure any MSM types did, especially on broadcast. Lots of emotive, and illogical, vox pops supported by often rather conveniently forgetful 'experts' with axes to grind and targets to meet. It IS all vastly more complex and serving the public ill to pretend otherwise.

'..a constructive debate about packaging in the media.'

Bless. When there are agendas to push, ratings to drive and targets to meet, I have long since given up on anything well researched and/or objective from the MSM, complicit at the hands of those who are happy to use their less than challenging reporting abilities to push press releases out as stories.

And I am a green campaigner!

My frustration lies in that all too often the cause of actual overall reductions (waste, emissions, etc... that I categorise under enviROI) is poorly served. Also there can be a highly negative, and damaging backlash if these 'messengers' have their messages shown to be poorly thought through or, worse, often more in the cause of their own self-interest.

Fool the public once, shame on you...

The ever worthwhile Almost Mrs. Average has a balanced, consumer-centric take... Recycling Blame

The public... is not daft.

Considerations

Commercial schools

Small businesses do face very tough times (letters, 1 December). I am not the owner of a small business but a former teacher, and I strongly object to the large banners hanging on the walls or railings of innumerable junior schools, announcing that the school is collecting vouchers for one supermarket chain or another. Schools are demeaning themselves by allowing themselves to be used as advertising hoardings, and schools should not disadvantage parents who are the owners of small businesses, by giving the impression that supermarkets are the obvious place to shop.

Or, should I say... dilemmas.

Having just, with our Voucher Tree efforts, been complicit in such an effort, This has given me cause to ponder.

I must say that, when we were doing the publicity, we considered using just such a poster on a railing to highlight our collection efforts, and everyone agreed that they did not deserve the publicity. Interesting that such a 'poster site' would usually be subject to a lot of planning, and even more money if not 'in a good cause'. It seems I am not the only one who can be cynical.

Good start...

... but, very little, if anything, that represents an end-benefit to the consumer.

Supermarkets come in from cold as part of low carbon revolution

News from the retail front

I have had of late to get a bit closer to the innermost workings of the retail world than is healthy.

And a few things have become clear: the shenanigans of their marketing would do Machiavelli proud, and the corporate structures are so rigid, and the level of fear of making a mistake so palpable so as to make the Russian military look like an anarchists' brainstorming session.

A few months ago we approached the manager of our local supermarket with a proposal to hold a little research on shoppers attitudes to packaging by using the RE:tie as the focus. It would help us get data, him get PR, and the store some 'we care about the future' kudos. Win-win-win.

He was well up for it. But... he needed to run it by head office. To OK a stand in the local carpark.

Several months and countless cross shuntings and requests for more and more info (Ans: 'Er, we'd have a table, and we'd ask if folk would see merit in second use ideas being put in pack designs. Maybe like the way Innocent did it, with a 'Yes/no' bin you pop bottles in. Bit of fun, really. Bound to get the local press covering it') from a bevvy of backside-concerned minions later, we got our answer.. from board level: No, best not.

Bless.

So I wonder how many person hours in meetings this bit of genius required:

The Grocer - Tesco Extra takes bags under the counter

'Don't ask..don't tell'. Hey, it works in the military!

Talking Retail - Tesco Extra pushes plastic bags under the counter

MRW - Tesco introduces 'bag on demand' initiative

PRW - NEW - Tesco points scheme cuts bag use - This, however, adds up

We've been labelled!

You know how folk usually don't like being labelled?

Well, we have, and we could not be more thrilled!

Now I know I bang on about the actual use of a lot of 'green labelling' initiatives, especially to already overloaded and/confused consumers wandering down the aisles (is finding 75g of carbon in crisp pack enough to abandon the store and drive to the next town?), but how about a nifty bit of re:use ideas re:direction... on every pack? As with the recycling URL, Junkk.com is looking forward to enjoying pride of place (well, lurking) on the product ranges from Poundland.

And, until today, we knew not one thing about it, until this very nice email email arrived from a very nice chap: Neil Ballard, their Packaging & Design Manager -

"After meeting you (and being thoroughly inspired) at the Packaging Show at the NEC earlier this year, you will be pleased to know that we have now added your website address to over 600 lines of product that will be coming in to our business over the next few months (primarily Halloween and Christmas) and we will continue to do so to as many lines as possible. See attached example of how you have been integrated on to our own label packs. I hope this helps your cause and that your business/website grows exponentially!"

I actually thought it was a wind up at first, but having spoken to the man himself it looks like we have yet another, and highly significant addition to the cause... and, soon, we hope, database!

Early days, but we're looking forward to hooking up with them on all sorts of fun & games to help the consumer, the planet... and... by way of inspiring a few other businesses, our two companies' own bottom lines too!

Amazing the little things you pick up

Almost ignored this for comment: We should not let the chattering classes undermine supermarkets

Though I do have certain opinions on the 'chattering classes' and their undue influence on what the rest of us should.. and can do, being usually less financially or Metro-location (or rural second-home idylls) blessed.

But actually it was this I noted, in mostly (the motivations for improving being hardly noble) positive terms:

'Cereal boxes are notoriously oversized for their contents because manufacturers like the on-shelf advertising that large boxes give their brands. So Wal-Mart has been telling suppliers that if they cut the size of the box (which saves transport costs), they will still be given the same shelf space, which is apparently working.'

Our house, is a very very fine house..?

House of Commons Debates 24 April 2008 - Topical Debate - Supermarkets

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Joan Ruddock): I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of supermarkets.

Lumme, I am going to have to give up the day job at this rate just to keep up with all this! Very interesting insights into the knowledge base and interest of our elected representatives.

I saw Ms. Ruddock in action when in was Sainsbury's turn to play on the BBC (I think it was Newsnight). Possibly some effective divide and rule being attempted by someone, as this was pitched as a counter to the M&S/Daily Mail PR effort of a few weeks previously, but we do seem to be getting a lot of lengthy commercials for brands dressed up as green concern these days on our national broadcaster.

The only constant is the waffle from the lead...er... followship, who seem pretty keen on any distraction from what seems a total lack of national, coordinated, complementary ground back to ground (dig it up, make it, ship it, store it, sell it, use it, ditch it, dispose of it) waste policy and logistics. Certainly putting systems in place to cope before fining for not using those that are currently so woeful, confusing and contradictory might get the public on side a wee bit better.

I notice today the big news is an OFT probe in price fixing. Hope it works out a wee bit better than the one that resulted in a stonking great compo payment to Morrisons. Donated to charity, it was billed as 'made by the government/department'. Now, where did that money come from I wonder? And were there any tangible consequences borne by those responsible?

Talk is proving very cheap these days. And even some actions pretty free of worthwhile accountability.

I wonder what road tax they pay?

There's a trend afoot, epitomised by this: Lexus hybrid woos Sainsbury's chief

First we had Sir Stuart Rose in his 6 litre hydrogen 7 Series Beemer, now this.

Now I'm all for encouraging better environmental practice, but our national broadcaster doing commercials (it was on the main page - doubtless to show how 'we' can stop glaciers melting) for retailers and makers of high end greener-ish luxury motors, sorry, limos, doesn't seem the best way to bring it home to the masses. At least, in ways that might be taken in the inspirational way that will doubtless be claimed.

I'm opening a book on Sir Terry or (actually the others don't seem to have the PR direct dial to the BBC these others do, so don't get on that often for their names to register) being covered roller-skating (£17.99 a pair, with 10% off to viewers) over the Atlantic to visit the US operation.

Fool me once

Like many, I don't usually pay too much attention to till receipts.

However, in the last few days I have had occasion to discover that this is very unwise.

Yesterday, at Somerfield I bought two bottles of wine on a deal. Despite adding booze to the basket, on getting home the total bill seemed a tad high.

On checking, I discovered there were indeed the two bottles at full price, and at the end the discount... plus another bottle at full price!

So I decided to look at Sunday's big shop at Morrisons. And, yet again, another extra entry.

Just how many donations have I made to these guys by my not having the time or necessary motivation to make sure that these scanners and their operators are accurate and/or not making duplicate passes?

Now... what are my rights for negotiating a refund? It's my word vs. theirs, especially tricky after the event. But who has time or the mental agility to track what the stores need a laser to handle and a computer to calculate.

Links. Rechts. Vee ver only obeying targets!

Does the left hand know what the right is doing?

Now there's a question. I'm going for 'in your wildest dreams'.

We know that the Government is perfectly capable of dropping targets when they become inconvenient.

Unfortunately, we are still in the realm of ambitious rhetoric, rather than action, from the Government when it comes to climate change.

Ministers are still ducking hard choices that need to be made if we, as a nation, are to face up to the threat of global warming.

I'm also goingh with Janet Street Porter, who used not to rate on my radar but is now often a voice of soem insight (if not one I'd like to listen to): Convenience comes at a (very high) price

And as it is sort of related, though more yesterday's news, here's a bit more for the pot.

Not, perhaps the best news for local retailers whose main weapon seems to be the removal of plastic bags in 'a' town (I suspect the removal of same in all towns will not quite have the same PR/'get the punters in' impact, at least past day 1).

Indy - Fury and disbelief greets report's claim that Britain needs more supermarkets

Indy - Supermarkets: Big four off the hook

Many independent retailers have been hoping that an inquiry would eventually result in fewer supermarkets being given planning permission. However, a shake-up of the planning regulations which the commission proposes, could pave the way for more supermarkets to open.

Indy - Jeremy Warner's Outlook: Commission wants more supermarkets

It all rather leaves you wondering whether the whole investigation was not just another monumental waste of money. This is the third Competition Commission investigation of the supermarkets sector in seven years, and all of them have broadly ended up clearing the industry of "rip-off" practices.

Actually, no. Despite some confused thinking around the landbank issue, the findings are on the whole measured and proportionate. Britain's growing population means that there is a real need for more supermarkets, regardless of the competition issues. The planning laws have to be adjusted accordingly.

Guardian - Getting past the checkout is a breeze for Tesco

Gaurdian - The way we shop now

Gaurdian - Reality checkout

I don't know about left and right hands, but my RSI-ridden wrist is shot!

The black stuff.

Newsnight addresses CARBON LABELS

I address Newsnight:

Good report. I got some facts (50% of ‘impact’ at agricultural stage alone) and a few important questions were raised.

At the outset Mr. Mason added ‘Do ‘we’ care’? I guess that will become apparent in Mr. Lunz’s poll as mentioned at the end, though I am always dubious on what people say vs. what they think or do in such cases. You tend not to be that honest if it’s about personal efforts to ‘save the planet’, especially if you’ll look bad.

Then we got into the meat (well, one veg) of the slot. I may have missed it but if every stage was covered, it seemed to screech to a halt at disposal. The whole impact of packaging and where it goes didn’t feature*.

So immediately I felt this to be incomplete. What this country, indeed the world, needs, is a grounded set of polices that cover what we consume from when it is taken from the ground to stuck back in it (or pumped skywards). With any leftovers reused, of course (see link via my name:)

Anyway, back to what was discussed. Yes, I may look at this label and say ‘there’s too much carbon’. Actually I don’t think I would say that because I don’t know what is too much for a crisp even compared even to another crisp, much less other foodstuffs. And I doubt I’m having that internal debate as I stand there at each aisle.

There’s also mention that this is the 1st manufacturer of several to get on board with this, I note voluntary, initiative. How many are there? How is all this coordinated? In addition to the health versions that vary depending on brand and retailer, I am aware of a few others either already up or being pitched on carbon footprints and/or food miles already. I have joked, and hope it does not come to haunt me, that soon a pack of Smarties will have a CDR of all it is deemed I should know before and after purchase. And that will have a mini-DVD on it, too, to cover its disposal. I am also afraid to say that, as a middle-aged slob I for one also have no clue whether 181 kcalorie per pack is good or bad for me. They are crisps. They don’t seem like they’d be good. As to 75g of carbon, ditto. Hard to put in context. And not a factor in my purchase efforts.

I note that those who embrace this scheme have ‘2 years to get it right' or lose the rights to this label/logo. Is this the only one? Or one of several? Are they competing? Are they paid for? Who monitors the monitors? Are there any official bodies who can add to the discussion?

I thought Prof. Jackson put it all in much clearer terms. And was also refreshingly pragmatic about the issues. Dairy. Beef. Or by Air: if you care about carbon don’t buy ‘em. Going to happen? A whole new dietary regime for the human race (cue vegetarians, with reason. Of course that is just a time-buying measure as the population increases. And if we are designed as omnivores Mother Nature is playing a cruel last card in her design)? I doubt it. So we get... crisps. And even then I doubt a symbol (of how many?) will do much when the chips are down.

The boss of Walkers has done all this... and doesn’t know if it’s a lot or a little. Well, I’d really wish our government, commercial, activist and even media ‘leaders’ would try and figure such things out a bit quicker before taking all sorts of PR punts to see what sticks. And then prioritize the CO2 reduction which will make the big differences first. As reduction is off the menu, I’d suggest addressing deforestation (remember your show on that?). or, closer to home, insulation for all. But that’s just me.

What also gets me very concerned is when I hear the words ‘government’ and ‘carbon market’ coming together. Money can cure a lot, but it can also sway headings when there’s a ton to be made. So if this is just a measure to get some numbers to apply to targets... oh, boy.... my kids will need to hold their breath.

I can, sort of, accept such things are better than nothing, and possibly are a hint at welcome commitments to reduce. The mention of the pricing policy that lead to such wasteful practices being dropped to the benefit of all was salutatory. But it’s only if they are done in the right ways for the right reasons. I await the TV ads with dread.

So, despite the now inevitable flip BBC climate mea culpa on what ‘just doing your job’ consumed, the question posed at the end was well made, and taken.

I await more.

* http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/

As coordination is key, I have written to DEFRA:

Thank you for this. I hope it will result in positive actions.

I often quote information from such releases, but in this case did so on the Junkk.com blog immediately as it was pertinent and topical to another issue, namely carbon labeling.

You may see merit in coordinating efforts at inter-departmental level to bring all these stands even more closely in sync to maximise the enviROI of the whole consumer supply chain.

Me, too

When it hits the business section more than the environment one, you know things are afoot: I don't believe that going green should cost more, says Asda chief

So I think, with others, we can all be happy to see the guys earning the big bucks and able to make the big differences starting to catch up.

The discrepancy between what the chiefs of our two most significant retail entities say (much less do) is striking.

Who is right, I wonder?

Guardian - Mr High Street - There is a bit about M&S' enviro moves too, if you look hard.

Today, I will be mostly staying at home...

...and, in so doing, I will help the environment a bit. Plus saving a fair wadge of wonga by not paying for travel. Now, while that is all very laudable, it is not perhaps the most relevant thing to any reader's day, nor indeed very interesting.

Hence, I am trying to figure out why ads like the one at the top, and all the press releases I still keep getting about banks now recycling their paper, are any different.

While super-dooper and all, the fact is that they are doing something that is only reasonable, and in the case of energy may even end up saving them money (will those eventual operational profits go back to the consumers?).

So, while I am happy to say 'good on ya!', I can't for the life of me see what is being served by blowing vast amounts of dosh on ads such as this, when they could be using the money to actually, oh, I don't know... DO something worth sharing, with the consumer in mind and not soem fuzzy green agenda.

Who gains? A box ticked on the CSR chart. The creative guys, ad agency and media are pretty chuffed (hey, I await the brief... or space booking). But am I going to hang a U-ee as we head for our weekly shop at the local supermarket and go to M&S because 'some' (the weasel of choice - as it's all down the same pipe, I can't also quite figure why it all can't be. You just switch tariff surely? Or is this another turbine on the roof job, as already advertised by a competitor?) of their expenditure on energy doesn't go to to npower any more?

I guess we'll be subjected to several months of these from competing sources - 'Buy your airflown spring water from ASDA because our loos are flushed with the grey variety!' - until they run out of ways to spout green, and /or all have parity with each other.

This is not just pointless advertising, it's... pretty... wasteful advertising.

So, speaking as a consumer, I'd be much more interested in ads like the one I mocked up a loooong while to show Tesco a potentially more valuable green communications route, and repeat the original and adapt here.

May is so over

I just read a short, but interesting piece in the Indy.

And without apology, but due accreditation, print it fullishly here, with a few highlights of my own:

All goods may be labelled with 'carbon footprint'

A new eco label may show the environmental damage done goods and services in shops. The Government has begun a "carbon footprint" project to work out how to count emissions from everything from crisps to flights [Let us pray the enviROI derived is genuine, and that we, the public, are able to get to grips with it such that it is not just another vast, money-sucking box-ticking exercise].

The scheme, which could be the first step towards an international standard [like all previous efforts at local - we seem to have two health standards already, so the packs are going to get pretty crowed with this guff - and global cooperation have been successful so far. No reason not to try, but I do trust the basis is not so much to line consultants' pockets in the effort as to actually move policies] for measuring the greenhouse effect, will [well, that's more positive] be used on packaging to allow consumers to weigh up [so it's back to us doing the tricky stuff again, is it? And doubtless fined if we don't do it right. What about a bit more effort on what goes into the system at the front end????!] the climate change impact [please.... make it an effective measure!] of different products [I... we... are going to stand there, assessing - if we are able - every item going into our baskets. This is asking us to weigh apples vs. oranges, literally]

The Carbon Trust, a government body briefed to create a low carbon economy [with how much money to be blown on salaries and comms, with almost no ROI and/or enviROI that is publicly accountable to an effective degree?] is developing the scheme with companies such as [why these guys? Are they enough? Are they being funded or helping out for free...if so big up to them. If not... hmnnn.] Tesco, Boots, B&Q, Marks & Spencer and BT. A panel of technical experts will take around 18 months [Dome. Olympics. NHS. Air traffic. Need I infer more?] to finalise the measurement of stages such as production and transport.

Announcing the plan yesterday, the Environment Minister, Ian Pearson, said: "Businesses are looking for ways [Looking's good. Finding is better. Committing the best] to reduce their impact on the environment. To help them achieve that we need a consistent way [Just like the health standards, eh?] to measure these impacts that businesses recognise, trust and understand." [Let's not forget the consumer recognising, trusting, understanding... and being able to engage with in a meaningful way, as well]

That's an awful lot of doubts I have raised from just a few paras. I wonder why? Maybe it is because this consumer doesn't recognise much so far in this area that has made sense, trusts little these protagonists do to actually have my kids' future enviROI at heart, or ever get shared in a way that is understandable of capable of rational engagement.

But we can hope this time it will be different. Here's hoping the mainstream media stay on their case (packaging pun intended).

Guardian - Carbon labels to help shoppers save planet

Treehugger - Carbon Footprint Labels for UK Produce

In the piece I read, in the Independent, the announcement was littered with words like 'may' and 'could', which usually presages a lot of money getting spent on a bunch of consultants, and then sod all of any use happening once the requisite boxes have been ticked.

There is also the small matter of what happened with the health composition labelling. In some places we get a traffic light system, and in others a row of figures that look like the periodic table.

It's going to get pretty crowded on the side of each pack, and I have my doubts anyone will have the slightest clue what they are looking at, much less be able to make a coherent decision based on it. I for one have not bothered to scrutinise each item I select. For start, what am I comparing? Apples and oranges? Well, of course a Spanish orange may be better than a South African apple, but who on earth is going to get into that????!

If there is any serious intent to make a difference here, it needs to be at the in-point, not throwing it on the poor blooming consumer to try and sort out the fudge government and industry are trying to shuffle around.

So do I feel my kids' future is being protected by this? Well, may... be... not.

Big Blue mentality

That was a song I wrote a long time ago. It was about the rigid structures and factional infighting that defined IBM and its less than terrific grasp of market leadership in the face of new challenges.

It popped into my head today because I have been blogging about The Apprentice and big corporations such as Tescos. And then, an hour ago, I was standing in our local Morrisons.

There was a scene straight out of a reality TV producer's wettest dream. Senior management. Middle management. Floor management. Minions. All in various degrees of Armani, gel, Specsavers and testosterone. And as for the men...

And the object of this high-powered cabal? A mop display.

All were sincere, with eyebrows furrowed as the man with 2.0l BMW 3-series told the guys with the 1.8l BMW 3-series what he thought. Priceless. meanwhile a little old lady gave up waiting to be helped with the small matter of buying something.

Bet they all have a degree in metrics and have been to customer service courses though.

To Tesco, or not to Tesco...

Are supermarkets changing our way of life, and should we be alarmed?

Swallowing your Greens. That's ratings.

Eco-label will create green standard for food, says Miliband

Will this be run alongside the one from the other retailers, which will be designed to tell a very different set of stories and totally flummox the consumer? Instead of traffic lights what will we have? Eco-stars? Green thumbs up? They are going to have to make the packs bigger at this rate (oh, the irony)! How many lobbyists, consultants and 'experts' will feed off this one for the next decade. Ship-borne dried apricots vs. airflown prawns vs. Spuds shunted from one end of the UK for scrubbing and then back to be deemed 'local' to where they are bought.

And are we going to have sub-sets where there is what is good for local farming, the local MP, the national purse, global environment, targets, media ratings and all the various pulls on green issues that can often be... at odds. Me, I vote less CO2... and unproductive civil servants and other talk-onlys to monitor and debate it all.

This is actually a great idea in principle, but when I see a PR piece floated telling me only something 'will be announced that is to considered' I have to wonder what exactly is going to be done at all, if ever.

For a change.

DEFRA - Mr. Miliband's Speech
Telegraph - 'Traffic light' labels backed by parents
Marketing Week - Parents reject GDA labelling system
BBC - Public want food 'traffic lights'

Out of the mouths of consumers...

Green pallor

When it comes to environmental issues, Ms. Taylor, you can ask a
lot of very good questions. Just don't expect many good answers.
Especially from those we used to imagine were tasked to ask them,
despite ad budgets on media:)

I'm guessing after week you have heard... er... nothing?

It not just retailer greenwashing, it's media-contrived greenwashing:)