I was recently stuck in traffic (which is a rare occurrence given I work remotely) so I took the opportunity to observe my surroundings.

The bus stuck in front of me had an advert for one of the food delivery companies here in Malta, with the slogan “Never go hungry again”.

This slogan rubbed me the wrong way and I thought it worthwhile to share why after musing on it for a while.

Here are the issues that I find with this slogan:

It is logically paradoxical

A food delivery company is not offering you food security or even food: it is a highly efficient middleman using supply, demand and technology to get goods from point A to point B. Convenient food just happens to be a good in demand right now.

If all restaurants had to fold, food delivery companies would fold too and the age of convenient food would end.

It is economically paradoxical

Given how obscenely more expensive restaurant food is compared to home cooking (a fact that restaurant owners would hope you conventiently ignore, unsurprising given their vested interests), the idea that a food delivery middleman can assure food security is economically paradoxical.

You’re paying more for convenience today over retaining more funds to ensure you can purchase food tomorrow.

This is re-inforced by the fact that several restaurants were discovered with inflated prices for listings on delivery apps, supposedly to compensate for the commission charged by the delivery company.

It is socially tone deaf

In a time of explosive inflation and rising cost of living, having a slogan referring to food security, even indirectly, is tone deaf, even somewhat insensitive. An increasing number of people in Malta are being classified as at risk of poverty.

Conclusion

My aim is not to take a moral high ground, I make use these services myself, especially when the alternative is much less efficient.

My aim instead is to wonder whether a more humanistic approach could have been taken, one which can exist within the current socio-economic context without coming close to mocking it.