‘I shop at Waitrose because…’
“I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being surrounded by poor people” was one reply! They also commented: “I also shop at Waitrose because I was once in the Holloway Rd branch and heard a dad say ‘Put the papaya down, Orlando!'”
Another wrote: “I shop at Waitrose because Tesco doesn’t stock Unicorn food.” Another said they went to the supermarket because “ASDA Value Peacock feed isn’t as nice.”
Many of the quips ridiculed the high prices at Waitrose, with one saying: “I shop at Waitrose because I think food must automatically be better if it costs three times as much.”
There was some faint praise for the chain, which is part of the John Lewis partnership, and the only supermarket to trust its customers to ‘self-scan’ their shopping – placed in trendy green hessian bags. With an eye on the quality of its grammar, one remarked: “I shop at Waitrose because…” you say “Ten items or fewer” not “Ten items or less”, which is important”.
Whilst there were jobes and mickey taking, there was a number of genuine comments including: “Because their wine is arranged on the shelves by region rather than colour.”
Even Waitrose’s “green token” scheme, which benefits local charities, was lampooned, with one wag commenting: “I shop at Waitrose because when the economy finally breaks down and dies, those little green tokens will serve as currency.”
There was further debate on Twitter as to whether the social media initiative had backfired spectacularly or been hugely successful because of all the attention it attracted. One observer said: “People are saying Waitrose don’t quite get Twitter because of #waitrosereasons hash tag. I think they do. No such thing as bad publicity!”
