Labels of Mistrust

When it comes to food labels, I don't trust store brands.

Last week I paid $8.99 for Starbucks brand coffee instead of $5.99 for Stop and Shop's "Dark Blend", which, I should add, was placed suspiciously next to its brand name counterpart. This marketing tactic is, of course, part of the reason why I avoid purchasing generic brands in the first place. I don't like them "suggesting" that it's Starbucks. Either come out and say it or don't.

The whole thing seems dishonest to me. I don't like fuzziness and vague ideas where my food is concerned. Sure I could save a few bucks here and there, but as Sarah likes to say, cheap and inexpensive are two different things. Cheap refers to quality, inexpensive refers to price.

And that's really the issue for me. Are store brand products cheap or inexpensive?

Are those really Planter's Peanuts? Or are they some other, less desirable peanuts?

Can't you just imagine executives from Nabisco making sure all the broken Cheerios go into the private label Wheat-O's box? Just like I bet executives at General Mills tell all their workers to make sure the ugly carrots go in the Sam's Club wrappers.

Over at DelMonte foods, the production supervisor says, "Hey Sam, put the clumped-up raisins in the Wal-Mart boxes. Keep the good ones for us."

Now all of this may or may not be true. But that's really the issue here - reasonable doubt.

It stands to reason of course that there are quality controls and it's all the same ingredients, just a different box. In that case, saps like me who purchase brand names are really just grocery store rubes who waste our money and respond to marketing gimmicks.

Who knows? It could be that I just like the bright colors that accompany corporate logos and their advertising materials? Let's be honest, the Market Basket label for creamed corn looks pretty dull next to the rolling hills where the Green Giant and his kid Sprout live.

I wonder what all this says about me? Am I cynical and distrustful? Or am I prudent and cautious?

Maybe I'm just a marketing statistic, the category of "suspicious white males with disposable incomes, short attention spans and misguided (brand) loyalty."

In other words, a consumer.