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Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets
HarperPerennial Search HarperPerennial by Joanna Blythman Search Joanna Blythman
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Customer Reviews:
Frighteningly enlightening about a town near you
I was beginning to question whether the supermarkets were selling me what I wanted OR what they wanted to sell me. How many times have you gone looking for an item to find it discontinued and replaced by an own brand item? On this basis I was very receptive to the facts in this book.
Only a few pages in I was extremely disappointed in the authors knowledge of english geography, stating that Warminster was in Hampshire and Cirencester was in Wiltshire. Not a good start to a book that should be accurate in detail.
However the remainder was very enlightening and also frightening. It all begins to click with what we all have seen and experienced. This book has helped change the way this family is now shopping and will shop in the future. Supermarkets are changing the commercial viability of our towns, not for the better. This book is an essential read to all those who use supermarkets and will stop you believing that they are your wonderful friends.
More frightening than any Stephen King horror film
This is a superbly well researched and written book which exposes the dirty tricks that UK supermarket bullies employ.
I could not believe what they are allowed to get away with and how they can put our farmers and growers out of business with one phone call. Amazing that they actually expect fruit and veg to conform to their own colour chart and measurement table and if a supplier's fruit or veg was out by a couple of millimetres the whole consignment was rejected and sent back to the supplier who usually couldn't sell it on because it had been in the supermarket's warehouse too long.
As a result of reading this book I have destroyed all my supermarket loyalty cards, sourced two local farmshops and a farmers market where I will be buying all of my fruit and veg and cheese and I have persuaded my friends to do the same.
This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever shopped in a supermarket. However in the long run it is down to us the consumer to vote with our feet and support our farmers in the UK before they disappear for ever.
Lovely idea for the fortunate few. 
Indeed it would be lovely to ditch the supermarkets, especially the 'big four'. For most people who work and live outside London the reality is that the lovely independant food shops are only open during office hours. What supermarkets offer is long opening hours.
Done better and with a lighter hand elsewhere
Most of the facts in here I knew from various articles and 'net trawlings previously. Although I liked parts of the book and I agree there needs to a populist reference point for this important and far-reaching subject I think it could have been done much more succinctly and without the repetition this book uses to hammer home simple points. The points are of course incrediably valid and worth making, but they lose their impact when they're presented just oh-so-slightly differently again and again. I would recommend this, but only because it addresses this one topic, for a better read and an overview of various interlinking topics I would recommend Not On The Label.
'No Logo' for British supermarkets... read it and weep.
'Shopped' takes the reader on a lively, thought-provoking and incredibly interesting journey through the world of the modern British supermarket, revealing every secret trick and behind-the-scenes truths that they really wouldn't want the public to think about. From screwed-over suppliers to exhausted assistants, corner-cutting to own-label quality, obsessive perfection to global domination; it's all here in candid detail. I work as a shop assistant for one of the 'Big Four' and already, within a couple of months of employment, I can see the truth in some of the topics covered in Blythman's book.
This book has affected me so much that I am determined to do as much of my shopping as possible elsewhere, even if that means taking the time to go further afield instead of choosing convenience. Already I have been inspired to frequent local markets and independent retailers instead, and am even considering leaving my job, such is my disgust at the underhand activities and money-greed that supermarkets shamelessly involve themselves in...
Read this book, be inspired and support local British produce from knowledgable, friendly specialists. This book should be compulsory reading for everyone from teenagers to grandmothers.
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related blog:
How Political Marketing Can Learn from Consumer Marketing - John ...
ISBN-10: 0007158041. ISBN-13: 978-0007158041. This book goes on telling how the politicians rule the laws of the every super markets that have swallowed the grocers, bakers, fish mongers, butchers , family hardware shops, wood traders ...
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/quelch/2008/01/how_political_marketing_can_le.html
tesco are at it again!
we are soon to live in a world where nothing can be bought anywhere but in a supermarket, and probably a tesco. if you want to get really angry about it all you could read shopped by joanna blythman (0007158041).
http://mollsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/06/tesco-are-at-it-again.html
minutes of meeting thursday 5th january
james recommenced joanna blythman's “shopped” (isbn: 0007158041) as a book giving a good overview of many ethical issues surrounding supermarkets. nina suggested instituting a speak book club, through which we could read and discuss ...
http://www.bradfordspeak.org/wp/?p=11
profit and loss
0007158041 and so, as we move deeper into the fifth month of an empty supermarket site, each afternoon the neighbourhood takes on all the characteristics of an out of season seaside resort, without the seagulls. ...
http://booksellercrow.typepad.com/the_bedside_crow/2006/04/post.html
