The Debate: Should firms use our data to issue health advice?

CityAM’s weekly feature takes the fiercest water-cooler debates and pits two candidates head to head before delivering The Judge’s ultimate verdict.

After Tesco floats the possibility of giving tailored food choice recommendations based on Clubcard data, should supermarkets use our data to issue health advice?

Yes: Tailored advice could help people navigate a confusing food market

Providing there is a customer opt out, the case for offering personalised tips for healthy eating is compelling. Poor diet choices are not always obvious – some food may be ostensibly low in calories but high in sugar or salt, hidden by a low-calorie label.  

If we want to make healthy eating the path of least resistance – and given the declining health of the population we must – this is one way of doing so. Carefully crafted interventions could be a helpful, efficient way to provide tailored advice – in turn building consumer capability – to help us navigate confusing food choices.

However, this shouldn’t give supermarkets a free pass from making more effective, but more commercially risky interventions – such as removing price promotions on unhealthy food or changing aisle end positions. A nudge where an alternative product is suggested doesn’t challenge a supermarket’s commercial model, because the consumer will still be buying something, whereas actively discouraging people from buying unhealthy food could. This debate should rightfully open up a bigger conversation about the role of supermarkets in the nation’s health.

 Inevitably, any discussion of a person’s lifestyle choices combined with personal data will attract criticism. But the fact remains: obesity is a driver of every single one of the long-term conditions that dominate healthcare use and expenditure. We’d be remiss not to take such opportunities..

Rosie Beacon is head of health at the think tank Reform

No: Tesco and the like should steer clear of judging us on what we buy

Hello, reader. I’ve noticed you’re getting a little tubby. Why don’t you put down that Kitkat, and grab an apple instead?

Creepy, isn’t it? I’m sure when Tesco’s chief exec suggested the company could use its Clubcard data to “nudge” customers towards healthier choices, he had a more tactful tone in mind. Nevertheless, he seems to believe there is nothing wrong with his business operating as the consumer’s conscience – or indeed as an outrider for the public health lobby.

Supermarkets are one of the most phenomenal free market successes, excelling even during Covid. But what business is it of Tesco, or any other supermarket, what the nutritional balance of your weekly shop is? They exist to serve a need, not to judge customers’ choices.

As private institutions, they are free to choose which products to stock. And it has never been easier to understand the nutritional value of what we eat, for example with colour-coded packaging. Supermarkets and producers have responded to consumer demand for food which is low sugar, high fibre, high protein, and so on. If Tesco is so concerned about our health, it is free to stop selling foods it feels are unhealthy. But I suspect its board and shareholders would have something to say about that.

So, while it operates an incredibly successful business model that serves actual, not idealised, consumer demand, it should steer clear of judging us for what we buy.

Emma Revell is director of external affairs at the think tank Centre for Policy Studies

The verdict: As an opt-in, could it be a profit driver?

Tesco made headlines this week after the chief executive suggested his firm could potentially use AI to help consumers make healthier food purchases. It’s not on the cards yet, but is it a good idea in theory?
Beacon argues yes, on the basis that food labelling is currently confusing; it won’t damage supermarkets’ commercial model; and that obesity is such a big problem anything is worth trying. Revell disagrees claiming it’s never been easier to determine health quality and, anyway, supermarkets shouldn’t be judging us.

It seems unlikely that an opt-in, pro-health nudge would reduce profits. Perhaps it could even be a boon for a supermarket – after all, don’t public health campaigners often complain that healthier options often more expensive? It could be a tactic worth trying. Obesity, a driver of every long term health condition dominating healthcare, as Beacon points out, ultimately impacts all our pockets due to the cost to the NHS. As long as it’s optional perhaps Tesco should give this one a shot?