PR Week’s editor, Danny Rogers, showed today the dangers of giving an interview when you’re not an expert on the subject being discussed.
He was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast show. The subject was Sainsbury’s move to hide free carrier bags from its supermarket checkouts, in a bid to cut the number of bags used. Rogers contrasted Sainsbury’s move unfavourably with Marks & Spencer’s bolder move to charge for food carrier bags under the retailer’s Plan A initiative. But he then demonstrated his lack of knowledge of M&S’s initiative, suggesting that anyone who hadn’t brought their own bag would have to pay a sizeable sum (I think he said £2) for a bag to carry their shopping home. Not true. M&S actually charges 5p, with the profit going to the environmental charity Groundwork.
Rogers also failed to mention that Sainsbury’s is starting free text messages to remind people to bring their old bags with them when they go shopping. This strikes me as a great move, as I’m always forgetting to do this. Overall, though, I think M&S’s approach is more comprehensive, as part of a much wider environmental and health initiative – Plan A. But you wouldn’t have known this from Rogers’ less than authoritative interview.
I’m sure Rogers thought this was a great opportunity to say what he thought about the PR and reputational impact of Sainsbury’s move. But you can hardly make a proper assessment without knowing the details.
Disclosure: I am a former head of PR for Marks & Spencer Money.
Ertblog 
I think I’m missing something in this whole carrier bag debate. I’ve always used my old carrier bags as bin bags – a typical shop provides slightly more bags than I need to keep me going until the next shop.
If I was to re-use my carrier bags then I would have to buy bin bags. What possible environmental benefit can there be in me buying something I don’t need. It will just make them manufacture more bin bags, which wouldn’t have been needed previously.