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Who is getting stuffed by Tesco chicken promotion?

Posted in General, Advertising, Media, Marketing, Latest reporters' blogs, Lucy Tesseras February 12th, 2008 by Lucy Tesseras

Chicken After all the hoo-ha Channel 4 has been making in recent weeks about the treatment of intensively reared chickens, why-oh-why did Tesco choose now to slash their prices and sell birds for under £2?

Since Hugh Fernley Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, et al started their war against factory farmed chicken there has been a huge turn around in the way people think.

For the first time a huge number of consumers are actually conscious of where their chicken has come from and the condition it has been kept in.

Now, when walking through the supermarket you can see people proudly displaying their organic free-range chickens, repositioning it every time they add another item to their trolley so that it remains in prime viewing position.

Whether it’s out of smugness at being a newly founded eco-warrior or embarrassment in case anyone thinks they’re holding a cheapy chicken, the plan seems to slowly be working.

But Tesco seems to be enticing anyone unsure or still on the fence back to the dark side.

To be fair, the supermarket chain has increased orders for free range birds by 30%, but why send out mixed messages?

Tesco said reducing the price of chickens from £3.30 to £1.99 is to help their shoppers on a budget. If the supermarket is so keen on lowering prices though, why didn’t they reduce the cost of their free range chickens to £3.30 to give those on a budget the chance to sample a happy chook in hopes of converting them?

The move seems particularly odd when rivals such as Waitrose has stated it will only be selling free range and RSPCA-approved ‘Select Farm’ chickens and Co-op has replaced all its standard fresh chickens with chickens reared in the higher welfare Elmwood standard.

Every little helps, but is Tesco doing enough?

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Tags Tesco, Marketing, Jamie Oliver, Freerange Chicken

Comments (1)

Charles Letterman’s comment is....

Critics of this move include the National Union of Farmers, who have said that the move is “extremely ill-judged and short sighted.” Apparently Tesco are “..sucking value out of the supply chain.” All together now, ahhhhhh, poor farmers.

In the current financial climate Tescos should be applauded. OK, they are probably the country’s biggest retail capitalists but, in February 2008, any discount on a basic food commodity will no doubt be welcomed by a majority of customers.

An RSPCA spokeswoman was quoted as saying, “The consumer has the clout to change supermarket policy and we strongly encourage shoppers to buy higher welfare chicken and not be tempted by the discount.”

Indeed, supply and demand is undoubtedly a wonderful thing. But the fact is that the average consumer cares more about how they are going to feed their family on, in reality, a ever reducing budget, than whether chickens are lied to about what time of day it is. As Tescos put it, “No-one should feel guilty buying a chicken just because it is good value.”

A vast majority of the population cannot afford the luxury of fair trade coffee or free range foods. For those that can, great. I hope that you and Marks & Spencer are very happy.

www.charlesletterman.com

Posted February 12th, 2008 at 5:42 pm

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