Class Definition - Now at a Supermarket Near You!

A metrosexual but rugby-loving (i don't know how that's theoretically possible but he really is!) colleague once asked me what supermarket was located in the shopping square near our home. I said we had a Co-op and he didn't appear to be moved. Another colleague piped in saying she had a Waitrose close to her house, to which his face lit up and he said "you know your town has arrived, if it has a Waitrose."

I read this fantastic article about the politics of social class played out in something as apparently innocuous as a weekly grocery shopping run. Like the article says, in Britain (and I'm sure the rest of the world's not far behind), where you shop says something about you and your life state. It is very interesting to see how more often than not, you will get the same item in different packaging. I have bought stuff from the Tesco Value range and identical stuff from the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range and honestly, I can't taste the difference. A friend of ours who has some behind-the-scenes experience from working in the packaging industry was telling us, anecdotally (sic), how they would do a batch of baked beans tins for ASDA and when done, they'd go and do a batch for Waitrose - same beans, different labels.

As dot (wisely) says, "we've come to a point where we pay for our perceived happiness on having the item and not it's actual value." The wank term for it in pricing strategy systems is CPV or Customer Perceived Value (there, now you have Google to thank for your education even!). Anyway, I don't want to proselytise, but where it doesn't hurt your brand- or class-conscious soul, take a look at the 'lower-class' alternatives and give them a shot - you just might be pleasantly surprised.