SELF- SERVICE SCAMMERS

More shoppers are stealing from supermarkets by putting loose avocados and other expensive fruit and veg through self-service tills and weighing them as loose carrots, and other cheap veg.

The easy theft was first noted in Australia where some shoppers were apparently buying 18 kilos of carrots in a single visit and self-service tills were recording sales of more carrots than the store ever had in stock.

Store managements are also aware that shoppers using self-service tills switch labels on items, as well as simply putting items in their trolley that they haven’t passed through the till. This last theft type was successful for likeable celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson in Tesco in Henley-on Thames in 2012, until he was filmed stealing wines and cheese on a number of separate visits and was arrested and cautioned by police.

CENTER PARCS UK RIP-OFFS

The price of a 7-day stay at a Center Parc holiday park in the UK can be double that charged in some European destinations, and prices in the on-site chain restaurants can be extortionately high.

The August price for a family of four staying in a basic Woodland Lodge in Woborn, Beds is £1,958, as opposed to £909 at a German equivalent, with travel adding less than £250. Prices in the chain restaurants on-site in the UK include £9.50 for a breakfast at Cafe Rouge, which costs £5.95 in the chain’s High Street outlets.

COURT BONUSSING

A whistle-blower at Capita, the firm paid £59million a year by the BBC to collect TV licence fees, has told the Daily Mail that large bonuses were paid to their 30-plus area managers to encourage them to take consumers to court.

Capita had told MPs investigating concerns over the way it collected licence fees that bonuses were only paid on sales of licences, which, given the above, was untrue .The BBC claimed that this was the same story they were told by Capita.

Last year MPs on the Public Accounts Committee savaged both the BBC and Capita over bullying methods used to collect licence fees. Threatened with investigation of their business premises some businesses have advised Capita/BBC that they do not need a licence, only to be told by Capita/BBC that since some business types lie about this they will continue to investigate them anyway.

DOWN AT WETHERSPOONS

This month sees the selling of more British drinks and less from the other countries in the EU at Weatherspoon’s.

The 880 pub chain will be selling more UK beers from Thornbridge Vera in Derbyshire and SA Brains Atlantic from Cardiff, along with sparkling wines from Denbies in Surrey. These will be cheaper for Weatherspoon’s customers, says Chairman Tim Martin, and replace wheat beers and champagne from Germany and France. This, he says, is the start of Wetherspoon’s transition to non-EU trade.

Marketing Matters Mar/Apr 2018 ISSUE 61

ALCOHOL MAYDAY Some alcoholic drinks are set to cost more from May 1 in Scotland as the country becomes the first in the World to set a minimum price for …

FOOT IN MOUTH AT FACEBOOK A senior executive at Facebook has added to the social media firm’s current serious woes by claiming, in a memo in 2016 that was …

TIME GENTLEMEN PLEASE Sexy images of nearly dressed cartoon ladies and saucy names used to market craft beers look to be on the way out. Such racy delights …

ADS IN THE DOCK Toothpaste claimed to whiten teeth, shampoo claimed to help reduce hair loss, long distance bus tickets for £1 and mineral water claimed to …

BOILER ROOM BOYS JAILED Two crooks who used hard sell “boiler room” techniques to defraud investors into paying large sums of money for worthless or …

HELP CRUSH THE CAR HIRE CONS The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating car rental firms that advertise low prices on the internet and then stiff …

BIG HIKE Cex, purveyors of second-hand computer and office equipment and CD/DVDs may need to rethink their latest marketing. Till earlier this year those …

NOW LISTEN KIDS Children eating more healthily could be a vain hope, given the number of ads for junk food they see. This amounts to up to 1,000 every year…

ALCOHOL MAYDAY

Some alcoholic drinks are set to cost more from May 1 in Scotland as the country becomes the first in the World to set a minimum price for alcohol, in this case 50 pence per unit.

The move has been made to alleviate Scotland’s drink problem and is expected to save “thousands of lives” according to health minister Shona Robison. Drinks most affected will be 7.5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) cider which can currently be bought in Scotland for as little as 16pence per unit, the new limits putting a 3 litre bottle (22.5 units) up from £3.60 to £11.25, a rise of more than 200% Beers and lagers at 5% ABV will have to be sold for no less than £1.10 per 440 ml can, a rise of around 50%, wines at 12% ABV for no less than £4.50 a bottle and the cheapest whisky will be £14 a bottle, all of which could persuade some thrifty Scots to travel over the border to England to buy their favourite tipples. Continue reading

FOOT IN MOUTH AT FACEBOOK

A senior executive at Facebook has added to the social media firm’s current serious woes by claiming, in a memo in 2016 that was leaked, that anything that helped his employer grow was good, even if it helped terror attacks, or was on the back of ethically dubious data practices. The most important thing, claimed Andrew Bosworth was connecting people and ensuring the growth of the company.

The utterly stupid comments have been taken by many to show the real and misguided mindset of a company that is having a number of crises, including the data of 50 million Facebook customers being harvested and used without their permission, and Facebook making a profit running scam ads and hate material.

TIME GENTLEMEN PLEASE

Sexy images of nearly dressed cartoon ladies and saucy names used to market craft beers look to be on the way out.

Such racy delights (for some) as the pretty and leggy lass in a red mini-dress and chunky heels could disappear from the label of Robinsons Dizzy Blonde Golden Zesty Ale as the brewers accept that lots more ladies enjoy the stuff, and could just be offended by the way it comes across. The Castle Rock Brewery, which has marketed its Elsie Mo Full Bodied and Irresistible ale with American style cartoon pin-ups displaying cleavage, stockings and suspenders has already altered its artwork to portray Elsie as a heroic pilot figure, to be more “accepted by a culture that strives for, and celebrates equality”. Continue reading

ADS IN THE DOCK

Toothpaste claimed to whiten teeth, shampoo claimed to help reduce hair loss, long distance bus tickets for £1 and mineral water claimed to extend life have all been targeted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently.

o Ads for Glaxo-SmithKline’s Sensodyne True White tooth-whitening toothpaste were banned after the ASA ruled that there was no evidence that the product whitened teeth more than any other toothpaste not claiming whiter teeth.

o Ads for Dr Kurt Wolf’s German Alpecin Caffeine C1shampoo were banned after the ASA ruled that there was no evidence that the product “helped to reduce hair loss” as claimed.

o Ads for Megabus promising “fares from £1” have been banned after Megabus admitted that there could only be one fare at that price per coach.

o Ads for No 1 Rosemary Water have been banned after the ASA ruled that there was no evidence that drinking it could “Help the body stay illness-free and in turn contribute to a much longer life” as claimed.