nectar cards - an alternative view..
I abhor Nectar cards. I loathe Nectar's blatant corporate premise - a thinly-disguised con-trick on our innocent public. Nectar cards are the sole reason my mood darkens whenever I venture into Sainsbury's.As an advertising campaign the nectar concept is brilliant. The work of a sublime devil of a genius. So outrageously insincere, it cannily bamboozles its victims (Joe Soap Public) into believing we are actually being thrifty as we instinctively buzz our way along the Sainsbury aisles loading our trolleys to the brim with their ever so carefully placed bait. Efficient yet thrifty modern age hunter-gatherers both male and female.When you shop at Sainsbury's you don't actually spend money. Well you do, obviously. But we're encouraged to believe we're actually SAVING our money by doing our big shop the Sainsbury way. Thus, collecting our nectar points becomes the stuff of thrift. Doing exactly what we were originally taught to do as good children – saving the pennies and letting the pounds look after themselves.Yes, we the public have been cast as nature's wondrous bees. And what are Sainsbury's shelves stacked with? Why nectar of course. Gorgeous, irresistible, addictive nectar. Sainsbury's ambrosia – their very own food and drink of the Gods. Spend £80 before next Thursday and we'll “give” you triple nectar points. Wow! Have you ever worked out how many bags of nectar you get when you spend £80 and opt to fill your kitchen cupboards with packets of stuff you don't yet need? Sainsbury's even freely admit that their great Queen Bee in the sky (their pet computer) already knows exactly what foods we like best :- our favourite cheeses, our taste in coffee, our choice on the baked bean front, the bread department, the milk shelves, the fruit, the bacon, the olive oils, the tinned fish you name it, they know it - even what bloody shoe-laces we once bought. They know everything they need to know about us. And exactly how to tempt us into buying more of the same stuff! Get 50 nectar points the next time you buy … (offer ends in 14 days)...So yes - when the time comes to check out, they have this clever little machine which pumps out a roll of solid gold nectar tokens tempting us to “save” our money when next we shop at Sainsbury's. 40 free nectar points when we buy yet another giant jar of the same coffee we've just purchased. 80 free nectar points if we stock up with more packets of “Taste the Difference” whatnots we once tried out on guests and vowed never to go near again. Token after token to stuff into our wallets, study carefully, and rush back to buy more in order to boost our nectar pot. “Boost” – such a sod awful and obvious Sainsbury word!To conclude and on the other hand.... I was also taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth. So yes, I do have a nectar card which I present for any basic shop. And yes, every year or so I do cash it in and let it pay for a big shop. But I don't ever take nectar tokens (actually they long ago stopped offering them to me having presumably worked out I wasn't a proper bee).. And I relish my freedom from the sort of slavery that nectar points are all about...
Stuart Kerr ● 2438d14 Comments ● 2437d