Monday 3 March 2008

Oh How I Laughed


On the final day in February word was out that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was all hot and bothered about plastic bags. And it's not the first time either. Last year Gordon Brown called on retailers to find ways to find ways to end the user of plastic bags. Hoorah him.

But on the 29th of February, he made it clear that he didn't think enough was being done. What's more, our cotton-bag-loving PM promised that the government would make reusable bags compulsory if they had to.

A day later the papers were filled with ads from the nation's supermarkets declaring their commitment to reusable bags. Sainsburys went to town with a full page letter on the back page of the Guardian. It really made me chuckle. Apparently the supermarket has "been reducing the impact of plastic bags on the environment since the 1980s". Call me cynical but I think there's very obvious reason why they don't go into any detail as what they were doing to save our planet. I suspect they were doing the same thing as everyone else in the modern world: jamming to Milli Vanilli in our shoulder pads and perms.

Sainburys choose to eradicate the use of plastic bags by issuing Guardian readers with a coupon for a free bag for life made of - drumroll please - plastic. Seriously, am I the only one that doesn't see a plastic bag as the solution to plastic bags? Oh the irony.

Then finally, beautifully nestled just to the left of the logo on the bottom of the 'letter' from Sainburys CEO Justin King, sat the slogan: Our Values Make Us Different.

If I had more time on my hands I would have created a spoof for your pleasure. It would say: Because We Bloody Have To.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

WHAT A GREAT ARTICLE... SO TRUE.

BUSINESSES ARE MAKING MONEY IN THE GUISE OF THE OZONE, AND CARBON FOOTPRINTS ETC. THE AIRWAYS CHARGE US EXTRA TO FLY, I ASK YOU WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING TO, NOT TO US, THAT'S FOR SURE!!!

NOW CERTAIN SUPERMARKETS ARE WANTING TO CHARGE US IF WE USE PLASTIC BAGS, THEY SAY A PORTION WILL GO TO CHARITIES, WILL WE BE ABLE TO SEE THIS, I DON'T THINK SO. DAD SAID IF THEY REALLY CARED THEY WOULD MAKE BIO DEGRADABLE BAGS, IF THEY CHARGED US THEN, IT WOULD BE UNDERSTANDABLE. HOWEVER, THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE CASE, IT'S LIKE FASTING FOR YOUR RELIGION WHEN IN FACT YOU ARE ON DIET, BUT PRETEND TO BE RELIGIOUS, WHT A CROCK OF NONSENSE. SO TO YOUR QUESTION LEA, NOT I'M SURE YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE TO SEE THROUGH THIS, BUT YOU ARE SURELY DOING SOMTHING ABOUT IT WITH YOUR UNCHAINED BUSINESS, YOU ARE STANDING UP FOR THE SMALLER BUSINESSES AND IN DOING THIS LESS PEOPLE WILL GIVE THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY TO BIG WIGS AND THEIR PLASTIC BAGS, BUT INSTEAD FILL THE POCKETS OF THE SMALLER RETAILERS.

GOOD FOR YOU LEA, I ONLY HOPE THE SMALLER BUSINESSES APPRECIATE THE SCOPE YOU ARE GIVING THEM, YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO GIVE BACK, SO NOW YOU ARE DOING JUST THAT.

PROUD MOM