Supermarkets are driven by profits, not the urge to keep us healthy | David Mitchell | Comment is free | The Observer

Supermarkets are driven by profits, not the urge to keep us healthy | David Mitchell | Comment is free | The Observer:

For as long as I can remember, there have been sweets next to the tills at supermarkets. It was my first experience of retail guile. "Never mind that trolley full of boring stuff you need, like bleach and runner beans and bin bags, why not buy something you want?!" the displays seemed to be saying. "Come on, let go a little, relax your bottom on to the comfortable surface of this lovely slippery slope."

Those were the terms in which my parents, keen for me to grow up well-grounded in cynicism, explained things to me. Chocolate and crisps were all very well, but to buy them by the checkout, on an impulse, was falling into a trap. Instead, I was taught the pleasure of watching other people fall into it and feeling smug. The fact that the sensation of smugness was more pleasurable to me than that of salt or sugar tells you all you need to know about the kind of monster who comes to prominence in modern Britain.