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> Of course, it was embarrassing to have a cart full of that stuff as everyone would know you were poor. I don't mean this to pick on you personally, but this
by flukus 6y ago
> Of course, it was embarrassing to have a cart full of that stuff as everyone would know you were poor.
I don't mean this to pick on you personally, but this sentence sums up so many problems with consumerism, advertising and it's ability to make us overpay. You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands.
These days the off brand labels have there own special stores like ALDI, which is even better because you don't have to fight the distraction of a dozen brands of the same thing.
- lurquer 6y agoI don’t know what the odds are, but this generic-food thing has come up before on HN. I made a comment and, if I recall, was downvoted... but, I’m going to say it again. ; Namely, when I was a kid, my sister and I were terrified to go into that aisle because our mother told us that food was for albinos... that’s why the labels lacked color. It truly scared the crap out of me. Haha! Anyway, I will now sit back and wait for HN’s albino members to downvote me for offending people of [non]color.
- Majestic121 6y agoTo give you some feedback (and I'm not an albino) : - Mentioning downvotes is a sure way to get them, and there's even a mention in the guidelines[1] saying to avoid to do that : "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. " - Other than this, I don't know about the last time, but here your comment feels like a fun anecdote more than an actual discussion point. While this kind of comment goes well in a lot of communities (typically very well with Reddit), it tends to get less traction on HN, as HN is very much directed towards discussion and argumentation [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- donavanm 6y ago> unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. For true commodities thats entirely reasonable. And these days when the same contract manufacturers develops and packages the product for Aldi, trader joes, kroger, and Annies its even more true. But dont let rose colored glasses obscure the differences that dis exist between the generics and name brands of previous times. Its ok to admit that Toasted Nut Os just werent as good on texture and flavor.
- Judgmentality 6y agoIt goes further than that. It can even be the actual materials used to package the food! https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa-lined-cans-4868637 https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa...
- ryandrake 6y ago> You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands. In many cases, it's not just that nobody can differentiate between them. They are literally the same product from the same factory, sometimes coming right off the same line. As in: Some of the cans of product go left for the "name brand" label and go right for the "store brand" label. It's excellent price discrimination. Get consumers to spend as much as they can afford for the same product.