e.tv should stop playing childish research games

Last year, for example, it started having SMS "Yes or No" opinion polls during news bulletins that produced very skewed and inaccurate results and earned e.tv the scorn and derision of the marketing community.

A bit silly really

Now, it's come up with something equally silly. It's certainly had the right idea to start a regular feature during news broadcasts of monitoring food prices during what is now officially a recession in this country. Good for e.tv and well done. It's about time someone did something like that.

Trouble is it is doing it all wrong. For a start, it decided to choose a "basket" of basic groceries and said that it would be checking on the prices of that particular basket regularly in the same three supermarkets. Superspar, Pick n Pay and I believe the third was Checkers.

Supermarkets are not stupid

Now, any of those three supermarkets who happen to be even vaguely awake will immediately give the instruction that the prices of those few products, which e.tv mentioned by name, be immediately frozen if not reduced.

Which will mean that after six months there will be no prices increase and all e.tv will be doing is suggesting that food prices have not increased one bit.

Alternatively, if it intends using different products every week, then that also presents a problem because all that will be doing is comparing prices between supermarkets which actually isn't going to prove anything in the long run. Particularly as most supermarkets have quite a few special offers or "loss leaders" that will certainly skew results.

Ask the experts

e.tv should really have a chat to someone in the market research industry - it would probably get the advice for free, I would imagine.

In my opinion the only way to do this accurately is to have a basket of groceries, but to keep what is in the basket a secret. That way, no supermarket will know what is being priced and won't be able to pre-empt the results by reducing prices.

Another big danger

Something else e.tv should be careful of is creating false impressions by doing knee-jerk research like this. Given that all three supermarkets are advertisers on e.tv, the last things e.tv needs are growing perceptions that the whole exercise is not so much protecting the consumer as doing some nice PR for its clients.

Which is exactly what will happen if the supermarkets hold down prices of that e.tv basket of products and food prices aren't seen to be going up as much as they are perceived to be doing. e.tv is on very dangerous ground.