Supermarkets and the Art of Selling

            As Bria and I were walking into Giant Eagle, we were immediately reminded of what we discussed in class on Monday; that supermarkets strategically place items to distract customers from their original intentions and get them to buy more items. As we were walking in the front door, there was a display of cookies on sale, we saw the rotisserie chickens by the front door, and we were drawn over to the hot foods bar, whose delicious aromas brought us over as we were walking through the produce section. Marion Nestle is correct from the first page of the first chapter of What to Eat, when she says that supermarkets’ “job is to sell food, and more of it.” It is clear that supermarkets place foods all over the store to tempt customers to buy more than what they were originally looking for.

            Since I was a little girl, I always went grocery shopping with my mom. We have been going to Giant Eagle together for as long as I remember, whether we were grocery shopping for the week or just for a night. As I walked/rode through the isles alongside her, I would always point out items that caught my eye, whether it was gummies or chocolate that my sweet tooth desired, and ask her to buy them for me. Since I was mommy’s little helper, I always ended up getting at least one of the extra sugary items that were not on her shopping list by the end of the trip. While we were at the supermarket working on this project, the second time we passed them, I ended up buying a package of Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies because they were on sale for less than $2.00 and they brought back memories of childhood. What a marketing strategy, placing sale food items that will draw attention from different crowds in multiple locations throughout the store. To reaffirm that this happens to more people than me, on page 20, Nestle states, “The stores create demand by putting some products where you cannot miss them. These are often “junk” foods… made and promoted by giant food companies that can afford slotting fees, trade allowances, and advertising.” Now it all makes sense.

            This assignment was very helpful in getting me to notice some deceitful strategies of the supermarket, as well as the differences between quality of fresh, local, organic foods versus foods shipped from across the country that have been sitting on shelves for days. Waxy coating on fruits and vegetables whose skin I normally rinse off and eat makes me wonder why I haven’t ever questioned it before. The wax makes them shiny and appealing, but that’s not how fruits and vegetables naturally look. I am also concerned about the amount of non-food items in the products that I eat. Looking through the ingredient labels, I was shocked at what I found. From now on, I will definitely be paying more attention to what non-food ingredients are in my foods. A friend of mine recently joked that preservatives in food help to “preserve your insides,” but there is some dark humor behind that. Large companies want us to think that chemical preservatives are not detrimental to our health, but the truth is that our bodies are not made to process those chemicals. We are supposed to be eating real food items, rather than products our bodies cannot recognize. It is crucial to our health and wellbeing that we all focus more on the foods that we eat and try not to fall prey to supermarkets’ tactics, which will end up putting non-food products into our systems.