Picture this: You are at a posh restaurant for a cosy candle-lit dinner. You are aware that you are paying for the ambience and also that water and beverages, including soft drinks, will be more expensive.
Typically, a carbonated beverage that costs you 300 fils at a cold store will be served with a slice of lemon and ice cubes for about BD1.200 or BD1.400. Since you know it, you are not a hapless or helpless consumer.
Now, let’s change the scenario a bit, shall we?
What if you and your family and friends are heading to a cineplex to watch a movie? It’s expensive business in Bahrain because ticket rates can start at BD3. But that’s not the zinger. It’s when you buy your popcorn and soft drinks that your expenses soar.
I was surprised to learn recently that there is no upper limit to pricing of soft drinks in cinema food stands. A fizzy that costs you 300 fils even after the recent hike with the sugar tax, is sold for BD1.700 in movie concession stands.
If you buy a drink just for yourself and your date, you’ve spent more than the single ticket base price!
When I complained to a friend in the carbonated beverages business, he said that companies like his have no control – in fact, they have seen a drop of about 50 per cent in business in cineplexes.
In addition, the wholesale price of these drinks is nowhere near the 300 fils that you and I pay and there are cross-promotions that reduce the price further for the cineplexes. That means, movie halls are making profits in three digits with just the flavoured sodas!
I am outraged because I feel my rights as a consumer are not being respected. If a drink with a market price of 300 fils is sold for even BD1, I would mutter about it but ultimately shrug and bear the steep price. But a xxx% increase?
That makes a mockery of my right to reasonably over-priced snacks to accompany my cinema show.
Of course, according to industry figures worldwide, movie theatres derive as much as 85pc of their profits from the popcorn and soda. Even a hit movie contributes only about 4.5pc to the bottom line. That shows that high concession profits are essential for a theatre’s survival.
Movie-goers are not allowed to take in their own water, food and drink which means you are forced to buy from the theatre’s food stall. People may say that you are not under any pressure to do so. That is a poor excuse to trot out for such rip-off deals.
Consumers must be assured of choices.
For instance, take tobacco sales. It continues despite overwhelming medical evidence that it is harmful and the taxes piled on the product.
The compromise reached is that the cigarette packaging is plastered with health warnings and it is not sold to children. Despite all this, if you choose to smoke, then it’s your choice.
But in cinema theatres, we are forbidden from bringing our own food and drink and are forced to buy hugely overpriced popcorn and soda. What kind of a choice is that?
In a world where there are serious problems, this may seem trifling – trivial even. But an unchallenged rip-off will snowball tomorrow into weak laws and touch other products that we use.
We need to be realistic about this – by all means have a price mark-up for cinema concession stands.
A fat profit is fine. An obscene one needs to be clipped.
Is the Consumer Protection Board listening?