Monday February 13th, 2006
I’ve just come off air at The Wright Stuff on Five (I’m on the panel all this week; it’s quite a change for me as I’m talking ‘non-money’ for most of it). In the third part of the programme there was a new Valentine’s card Asda’s launched at just 8p. Now you may expect them to be on horrid flimsy card, but actually they were reasonable quality. Now of course my view is cheap cards are great, I love value, and the programme was asking “surely you should pay more?â€?
However as many on this site are aware, some people have millions, others have only pennies to spend, and for those with just pennies getting a card at 8p is great - thus the ability to get a card for cheap is great. The problem is Asda for some bizarre reason has actually branded “ASDA Smart Price�, on the front of the card itself. Thus even for me that defeats the whole point. No one wants a card that champions its cheapness. MoneySaving is about getting great value not poor products, yet the branding ruins it.
Sadly I don’t have a picture to show you or it’d become evident. I would love to say this is a wasted opportunity by Asda, though when I think about it, perhaps it was more of a publicity stunt to get some coverage on the telly - and if that was the point - it succeeded. Or perhaps it is literally doing it as a bit of comedy or a good one for kids?
At the end we were all asked “would you be happy to receive an 8p Valentine’s card?� My answer? “Yes of course, as long as it comes with a kiss from the right woman�. However, if the MSG’s reading this…. don’t take the message too literally.
