Public 'tricked' into buying unhealthy food
Tricked, I tells ya! It's all those nasty corporations, conspiring to sell people the things that they want. How terribly underhanded and deceitful
The Royal Society for Public Health warned consumers were being tricked by a marketing ploy known as upselling.
Upselling. A sales technique that has been around since the first cow was bartered for the first pigs. Upselling means offering a consumer something else to compliment what they have already purchased, or in some cases, offering the same thing in a larger size. For an extra cost of course. Some people find it annoying in certain situations, but you can always say no. There's certainly no 'trickery' involved
The tactic involves shops, cafes and restaurants encouraging customers to upgrade to larger meals and drinks or adding high-calorie toppings and sides.
A poll suggested eight in 10 people experienced it every week.
Eight in ten people seems a lot to me. It's unusual for me to experience it more than once a month. I don't buy a coffee on the way to work every morning though, I make one before I leave the house
The most common upsells to be taken included larger coffees, bigger meals, sweets and chocolates and extra sides such as onion rings and chips.
Royal Society for Public Health chief executive Shirley Cramer said the industry was pressuring the public into buying extra calories, which then added up "without us noticing".
I don't think, 'Would you like fries with that?' is pressurising. It's very easy to say, 'No thanks'. Very easy indeed. I've never had a McDonalds employee say to me, 'Are you sure?. Go on, just a few fries. You know you want to. What are you, a girl?'
Never in my experience of been offered an upsell have I felt pressurised or felt I could not simply say no
She said businesses needed to stop training staff to upsell high-calorie food and instead focus on healthy alternatives.
Would you like an apple with that?
Businesses train their staff to sell the things that people want, not the things that 'Public Health' think people should have. If they trained staff to offer upsell items that nobody was interested in, it would be a waste of staff training and a waste of staff time. It would also bemuse and annoy (more than it already does) the customers
And quite frankly, what businesses offer to their customers is nothing to do with the Royal Society for Public Busybodying or any other prodnose pressure group
The research showed many of the upsells were unhealthy options, with the average person who fell victim to the technique consuming an average of 17,000 extra calories a year, enough to gain an extra 5lbs (2.3kg) over 12 months.
Fell victim? What bollocks is that?
'Would you like to double up for an extra pound?'
'A quid eh? Yeah, go on then, why not'
Oh no!. I'm a victim. Help me. Compensate me. It's not my fault, it's all the nasty corporations with their hideous tricks of offering me something that I actually wanted. Something must be done. Think of the kiddies. Blah, blah...
Liam Smith, 25, from West Yorkshire, is just one of the many people who have been persuaded by the marketing ploy.
But since recognising he was eating too much he has lost 6st (38kg) and now refuses upsells.
"Being able to 'go large' on a meal for 30p extra was always a no-brainer for me, as was a few pence more for a large cup of hot chocolate or paying £1 more to turn a single burger into a double.
"Afterwards, I'd wish I hadn't done it though - I can only describe it as a major feeling of guilt."
Liam Smith is a moron. 30p, a few pence or a quid is certainly a no brainer if it's for something you actually want, but if you don't want it, do like the Grange Hill kids and just say no
Six stone is half my body weight. I'm not fat, because I watch what I eat. I make my own brew in the morning and have a McDonalds as a treat about once a month. If they ask me if I want to make my burger into a meal, I say...
Say it with me...
"No thank you"
It's so easy, a blithering idiot could do it. Of course 'Public Health' goes way beyond blithering idiocy, so they don't get it
But Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said there was "absolutely no evidence" of upselling in pubs.
That's crap! I'm sorry, I'm not defending 'Public Health' here, but the way to deal with these people is to tell them to fuck off and mind their own business, not to agree with them and defend yourself with a blatant lie
I worked in pubs for years and staff were often instructed to ask, 'Would you like any crisps or nuts with that?'
Most staff didn't bother as it was just silly. If a customer wants crisps or nuts, they'll ask for them.
Weatherspoons for one though, do ask if you want a double spirit for an extra quid. Me and Mrs Bucko often stop in our local Spoons on the way home for a night out, to have a bourbon. We always get asked if we want to double up for a quid and always say no, just because it's our last before we go home
So no, pubs do do it. Just admit it. It isn't a bad thing
If you don't want fries with that, don't want to make it a meal, don't want to double up, don't want to go large and don't want chipatis or bloody naan breads, you know what to do
Just say no
And you know what to do when faced with interfering busybodies from 'Public Health'
Just say no. And feel free to swear at them. Knobheads
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