Free will? Don't make me laugh...

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Every now and again you’re out shopping and you come across something you’ve never seen before.

Something that, now you know it exists, you cannot imagine a universe without it.

Something so simple, yet such a profound idea, you find yourself irresistibly drawn towards it, convinced Christmas could not fail to be enhanced by its presence.

Something you never knew you were missing until you saw it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…

*Drum roll…*


Marks & Spencer’s Christmas Washing-up Liquid: tough on grease and grime. Orange and cinnamon fragrance.

When we spotted it on the shelf next to the tills, we were awash with an array of emotions.

Desire, of course; admiration for the person who came up with this idea; amazement that no one else seems to have done this before; nostalgia for those Christmas aromas of childhood, even though orange and cinnamon washing-up liquid didn’t exist back then; and guilt for so very nearly falling for it.

We didn’t buy it; we managed to catch ourselves just in the nick of time.

And while I would like to feel a certain air of self-congratulatory smugness for deflecting such a sophisticated psychological advertising technique, the M&S Ready Prepared Honey Mustard & Maple Parsnips now sitting in our fridge, are testament to how powerless we really are in the face of such marketing onslaughts.
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