Every time I go into shop at my local supermarket, I’ve noticed more and more of my favourite branded products being replaced by clones made by Woolworths. Oh it has its own brand, ‘Select’, but Woolworths has made it to look exactly like my favourite brand in size and colour, so that I often do pick up the clone product by mistake. But in the last few months it’s got even worse, the branded products aren’t even there anymore. The shelf space has been given to the ‘Select’ clone products. No more ‘San Remo’ cous cous, no more gourmet bocincini, just Select.

Do you see the irony here? How can I select when Woolworths has already made the choice for me. It’s no longer a supermarket, it’s a monomarket. A nonmarket.

Intellectual property, rewarding innovation and creativity

It takes enormous ingenuity and hard work to create a product, gain an audience and build brand recognition. Now all that hard work is being exploited by lazy supermarkets who want a free ride. They want to take your ingenuity, copy it, use a slightly different shade of colour on the packaging and sell it for their own profit.

But Scripture says:

‘…the labourer deserves his wages’ (1 Timothy 5:18)

I reckon we should encourage innovation and respect creativity by saying no to the laziness and exploitation of massive corporations, or even little ones that want a free ride.

But aren’t the supermarkets our champions, giving us lower prices for the same products?

Woolworths would say that’s what they’re about, but that’s just spin. Temporarily we get to save a few dollars each week as we buy discounted Select items. But in the longer term there’ll cease to be any shelf space for brands and there will be no competitors just Select products. Consequently, there’ll be no reason to offer competitive pricing and so prices will go up. We’ll be the losers and there will be only one winner, Woolworths. They can argue that they are championing the consumer’s interests but really they are just creating a monopoly where we have no choice to select from. You know, perhaps we should call their brand ‘impose’. Impose because it is imposed upon us so that we will not have any choice.

So this rant is not just about artistic ideals, nor protecting intellectual property, important and good as these may be, and certainly these things are enough for me to make my selection. No, this is about protecting your hip pocket. If you’re short sighted you might select to save a bit now but you are going to have to live with the imposition of paying a lot more later.

The products are inferior anyway. These clones don’t taste as good nor work as well as the originals. So beware of making a dud selection. My wife says, ‘so what are you gonna do now, grow your own rice?’ Maybe I will. But for now we do have a small window of time left make a choice.  We can select to not buy Select and maybe they’ll think twice about imposing such narrow choices upon us.

 

Stephen Shearsby is a writer and performer of gospel shows:

Anton's Antics www.antonsantics.com for kids and families

Barista Banter www.baristabanter.com.au for adults who want to make a better cup of coffee at home.