Heartbreaking photo of a trolley exposes ‘devastating’ pre-Christmas issue
- Replies 11
It's almost Christmas, a time for celebrating with family, merrymaking, and good times. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, the cost of living has made it increasingly difficult for people to make ends meet.
A photograph of a trolley filled with barely enough groceries to last one person a week has made waves online, and it's illustrating an upsetting reality that people are facing across the world.
The trolley was shared on social media by musician Sarah Foley and only had a handful of items: broccoli, milk, bananas, rice cakes, pumpkin, and kiwi fruit. She also revealed that the small haul cost her NZ $90 (AU $85).
‘Do you genuinely believe this amount of groceries is worth $90?’ She asked in the video she posted.
‘This is all I could buy for $90, and this will last me three days if that. There’s no meat. I haven’t bought any meat,’ she continued.
Sarah took aim at Countdown in a previous video and called them out for being ‘tone deaf’ after the retailer shared behind-the-scenes footage from one of their Christmas advertisements.
‘Can we talk about for a second how tone deaf this Countdown ad is?’ She said in the clip, which you can find here.
‘Is this why you charge so much for food? Because you spend thousands paying people to hand plates of food to each other?’ She asked.
The supermarket responded to the criticism and said this: ‘Unfortunately inflationary factors like freight, fuel and supply costs are contributing to higher prices right across the food industry.’
Countdown added that they were doing everything they could to ‘work around’ higher costs, and provide more value to shoppers this holiday season.
And this response is what prompted Sarah to post the photo of her trolley on social media.
Many social media users weren’t convinced that the items in Sarah’s trolley would cost that much. But others defended her and said that the prices have risen to bring in more profits to the grocery store. See an example of this in the image below:
Sarah has since turned off comments on the video, but you can still watch it below:
This issue comes after the New Zealand Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr urged shoppers to ‘think about saving rather than consuming’ this festive season.
The comment was made after the country’s central bank increased interest rates to three-quarters of a point to 4.25 per cent – the highest in New Zealand since early 2009.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank projected inflation to peak at 8 per cent by the end of the year. This report comes after researchers found that 99 per cent of the people they surveyed were concerned about affording groceries for Christmas this year.
‘We are deeply concerned to hear about the agonising choices Australians are making,’ a spokesperson for the Salvation Army (where the research was conducted) said.
‘The guilt and emotional toll of not being able to provide the basics for their family is the real but often hidden cost of financial hardship.’
Do you think that Countdown was tone-deaf or was Sarah’s video an over-exaggeration? Let us know your thoughts below!
A photograph of a trolley filled with barely enough groceries to last one person a week has made waves online, and it's illustrating an upsetting reality that people are facing across the world.
The trolley was shared on social media by musician Sarah Foley and only had a handful of items: broccoli, milk, bananas, rice cakes, pumpkin, and kiwi fruit. She also revealed that the small haul cost her NZ $90 (AU $85).
‘Do you genuinely believe this amount of groceries is worth $90?’ She asked in the video she posted.
‘This is all I could buy for $90, and this will last me three days if that. There’s no meat. I haven’t bought any meat,’ she continued.
She posted the video as a response to Countdown’s comment on her video. Credit: blakemusicnz/TikTok
Sarah took aim at Countdown in a previous video and called them out for being ‘tone deaf’ after the retailer shared behind-the-scenes footage from one of their Christmas advertisements.
‘Can we talk about for a second how tone deaf this Countdown ad is?’ She said in the clip, which you can find here.
‘Is this why you charge so much for food? Because you spend thousands paying people to hand plates of food to each other?’ She asked.
The supermarket responded to the criticism and said this: ‘Unfortunately inflationary factors like freight, fuel and supply costs are contributing to higher prices right across the food industry.’
Countdown added that they were doing everything they could to ‘work around’ higher costs, and provide more value to shoppers this holiday season.
And this response is what prompted Sarah to post the photo of her trolley on social media.
Many social media users weren’t convinced that the items in Sarah’s trolley would cost that much. But others defended her and said that the prices have risen to bring in more profits to the grocery store. See an example of this in the image below:
One of the responses on Sarah’s video. Credit: blakemusicnz/TikTok
Sarah has since turned off comments on the video, but you can still watch it below:
This issue comes after the New Zealand Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr urged shoppers to ‘think about saving rather than consuming’ this festive season.
The comment was made after the country’s central bank increased interest rates to three-quarters of a point to 4.25 per cent – the highest in New Zealand since early 2009.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank projected inflation to peak at 8 per cent by the end of the year. This report comes after researchers found that 99 per cent of the people they surveyed were concerned about affording groceries for Christmas this year.
‘We are deeply concerned to hear about the agonising choices Australians are making,’ a spokesperson for the Salvation Army (where the research was conducted) said.
‘The guilt and emotional toll of not being able to provide the basics for their family is the real but often hidden cost of financial hardship.’
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