The horrifying truth behind Tesco’s plan to make us healthier
Funny, the things that tip libertarians over the edge. Ken Murphy, head of Tesco, provoked outrage this week when he suggested that loyalty card data could be used to encourage the British people to eat more healthily.
In future, he said, AI will analyse individual consumer behaviour and make personalised suggestions. “I can see it nudging you, saying: ‘I’ve noticed over time that in your shopping basket your sodium salt content is 250 per cent of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this.”
Oh dear, the conniptions! “Tesco has no right to make judgments about what’s in our baskets, or nudge us on what we should or should not be buying,” fumed Big Brother Watch, in a tone suggestive of teenage door-slamming. The charge of “nannying” was made, of course. Anything that brings out the truculent child in the British psyche must be nanny’s fault.
But the truth is, supermarkets already use loyalty schemes to manipulate the way we shop. They have done for decades. What else did you think they wanted your data for?
More than 90 per cent of British adults now belong to at least one supermarket loyalty scheme. Uptake has increased significantly since the cost of living crisis, and the introduction of “loyalty pricing”. This is, in effect, a two-tier pricing system, with loyalty club members enjoying big discounts on items, while non-members have to pay a higher price.
The economics of this would be baffling, if it weren’t for the value of data. What the supermarket loses through mass discounting, it can more than recoup behind the scenes. Loyalty card data is used to make supermarket ordering systems more efficient, reduce waste and promote the most profitable lines. Some data is sold to outside companies, although increasingly supermarkets are setting up their own in-house media firms. This means they can use their granular understanding of consumer behaviour, gleaned from loyalty cards, to sell advertising slots to their suppliers.
Understanding what consumers want is good capitalism. But it isn’t necessarily good for our health. Evolution has left humans with a powerful craving for fatty, sugary, highly calorific food. This kind of product is cheap to make, easy to sell, and therefore extremely profitable. It’s no accident that loyalty card schemes – indeed, supermarket promotions of all kinds, from 2-for-1 offers to half-price discounts – are designed to nudge us towards ultra-processed foods. That is where the big money is.
We are trapped in a vicious circle: the more junk food we buy, the more profitable it is; the more profitable it is, the more the supermarkets promote it. Around 60 per cent of the UK’s calorific intake now comes from ultra-processed food, and 95 per cent of that is bought from supermarkets. Meanwhile, obesity and diet-related disease is costing the UK economy an estimated £98 billion a year in lost productivity and NHS costs.
Libertarians seem to believe (or pretend to believe) that we make consumer choices in a psychological vacuum – gliding undistracted towards the pure object of our desire, quite unaffected by advertising, marketing, promotional offers, store layout, website interfaces, product placement or any of the other persuasive arts on which modern capitalism is built.
In truth, supermarkets are already nudging us, all the time. Would it be so terrible if they occasionally nudged us in the other direction, towards a healthier shopping basket?