Breaking into Tesco, a PR exercise gone wrong

Last week I was watching the weekly episode of Breaking into Tesco which I consider a PR exercise for Tesco in a time where everyone is trying to tell us not to shop in supermarkets and be very careful when shopping. Through the program Tesco is showing us its shining facilities and offering the winner of the series, the opportunity of seeing his or her recipe transformed in a Tesco product. The program has been really well thought, Tesco wants to tell us that their products are made how we would make them, using the ingredients we would use, however, last week a lady went with a cake made with different spices and for all program they kept telling her to reduce the number of spices to reduce the price otherwise it would have been too expensive for Tesco's standards. This background voice telling the lady to cut the number of spices to reduce the price should have reminded to all of us, consumers, watching the program, if the profits announced by Tesco every year are not enough, that we get what we pay for and Tesco does not sell at loss and if in some instance the justification of economies of scale is applicable, in many more this is not. This applies particularly for the food segment. To keep prices down, Tesco has to use cheaper ingredients, full stop. And when someone says that Tesco buying big quantities can negotiate better deals, my response is that for the food, big quantity means lower quality. Think of the fruits of your garden and imagine a mass production, will you be able to look after your garden and put the same care and passion even if you had many more people, there is no chance you can get the same quality.