WAITROSE has come in for some ridicule over a piece of social media marketing that backfired.
That is, backfired as in Waitrose being mentioned in thousands of media outlets and being the subject of millions of internet hits.
The advertising pitch was straightforward, an invitation on Twitter for people to complete the sentence: "I shop at Waitrose because -" The gentle grocer probably did not expect so many tweeters to be so twisted. "Because I detest being surrounded by poor people," was one response. Another: "Because I think food must automatically be better if it costs three times as much."
My tweet would have been: "I shop at Waitrose mainly for the reduced bargains so I can eat crumbs from the rich man's table." Turkey and ham pie with apricots, Breton coarse pate with wild mushrooms, and bijou ham houghs are just some of the stuff sourced recently at well under a quid. Waitrose does serious heading-for-the-bin price-cuts.
I also shop at Waitrose because I can't find pink peppercorns at Lidl. Or for pigs' cheeks when I don't have time to go to Davidson the butcher in Glasgow's Scotstoun.
Another mock-the-middle-class tweet said: "Because Clarissa's pony just will not eat ASDA Value straw." This inverted snob has obviously never been in Lidl the week equestrian equipment (but not straw, yet) is on sale.
During my Waitrose supermarket sweeps, I am impressed by the mouthwatering food on offer. Iberico bellota ham from acorn-fed wild pigs, top-quality chorizo, manchego cheeses. Sadly, they are at eye-watering prices. It may be nearly as cheap to fly Ryanair and shop in Spain.
The Waitrose Twitter exercise did at least throw up some decent humour. Like the bloke who likes to shop there because he hears comments such as: "Orlando, put down that papaya."
The biggest joke is that in Britain, food is a class issue.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article