#6 Shopping As the "Other"

Shopping As The "Other"


I visited Dissmores IGA for this assignment like I normally would to load up on groceries. Dissmores is one of the more expensive supermarkets in the Pullman-Moscow area because of their close proximity to the WSU campus. Like many students I shop at Dissmores for convenience. Because Dissmores is linked to WSU they are very good targeting students shoppers.



Dissmores dose a great job at catching the eye of students with displays, sales, and placement around the store. The very first thing I saw as I walked into the store was a giant display of Budweiser and Coors products. Accompaning the beer was another display of Tostitos chips and dip and Tims Cascade Chips. In case your a not shopping for beer there was also a giant display of Monster energy drinks and Coca-Cola products. As I walked around I noticed some of the products on sale. Many of these products are directed specifically at college students who don't cook, products like frozen pizza, Banquet meals, Hot Pocket products, and frozen chicken wings.

Dissmores has a giant beer selection which covers half of an entire isle in the store. This is clearly one of their largest sellers towards college students. Dissmores strategiclly chooses to place snack foods and soda in the same geographic area as the beer section. I noticed they moved the wine across the store where college students are less likely to look and maybe local adults are more likely to shop. All of these items are placed where they are for a reason. It not only makes it easy to remember where things are, but it also can create a higher demand for certain products.

I decided to imagine myself as a 10 year old child shopping at Dissmores and found that there was plenty of products geared towards me. I found fruit snacks with cartoon characters, fruit shaped candy, fruit flavored sugar cereal, fruit drinks like Capri Sun, and of corse popsicles and ice cream. One sticker I found stood out to me, it was about cart level in the frozen food isle. It was an advertisement for popsicles and ice cream that claimed they were homework fuel, and a great snack for after school.

Here are a few blogs I found about supermarkets and food targeted towards children.

http://bit.ly/uoQmKt

http://bit.ly/ayClR0

I have realized how painful it was for my mom taking me to the grocery store as a child. I remember trying to sneak all kinds of junk food into our cart. But what child can resist? Every kid who goes grocery shopping is bombarded by brands targeted at them. With bright colors, sugary foods, and friendly characters did I really have a choice?



I found very few food choices for young children which were actually healthy. Many snacks that are geared towards children are created to resemble fruit, giving the illusion of being good for you. Marketing to children has become an issue worth fighting against in our country. The Center For Science In The Public Interest has been one of the strongest advocats of this behavior. Check out some of their innititiaves and the second link about marketing to kids.
http://bit.ly/tfCth4

http://bit.ly/uFEGo2

In some ways we can have a say in what is on our grocery shelfs. Last year one of the Dissmores managers asked me what  he could add to their selection. I told him I was looking for a large bag of basic trail mix, that was relatively cheap. This semester I found exactly what I was looking for the year before. So in some ways people can have some say in what their supermarket sells.


For the most part consumers don't have a choice about what foods are sold at their local market. The large scale food companies, IGA, Safeway, QFC, Wallmart, Thriftway, ect decide what is on our shelves.

The illusion of supply and demand is also very real. Grocery stores don't always stock their shelves with the highest selling products they  choose what to supply, or supply what their business partners tell them to supply. Although demand dose play a role in what these stores are buying they also put things on their shelves that are not highly demanded.