This Bank Holiday weekend, what with the rain, the roadworks and the flight cancellations, many will simply abandon the idea of a day at the seaside, or a blast of fresh country air. Instead, people will drift in their droves towards malls and high streets across Britain to participate in our No 1 leisure activity — shopping. There, within the air-conditioned confines of big-brand stores, they will eke out their hours in towering lattes, super-size burgers and two-for-one offers. They will exercise their privilege, as members of the valued shopping classes of Britain, to choose from a vast array of almost identical trainers, clothes, books and other merchandise.
Customers may think they have a wide range of choice, but in fact their options are more limited than ever before. Ubiquitous coffee chains dominate the market, forcing out the small, independent cafés. Bullish, and often offensive, mega-brands proclaim their supremacy, drowning out meeker retailers for whom there is no discernible gap in the market. Everywhere, people dress the same, look the same, eat the same — and all because of the cultural and commercial homogenisation of our high streets.
The New Economics Foundation, a think-tank dedicated to exploring economic, environmental and social issues, has commissioned a survey to explain the whys and wherefores of our identikit high streets. It will aim to establish which of Britain’s towns can be classified as “clones” and assess resulting cultural implications.
If nothing is able to counter the growing supremacy of the high-street big-hitters, the NEF argues, the loss of identity in our towns and cities seems inevitable. And as it points out in its preliminary report, the rot doesn’t stop at the high street. It extends far beyond, into our cultural and social spheres. To cinema, where multiplexes screen the same, big budget blockbusters; to music, where airplay and distribution are controlled by a handful of global labels; to beauty, where the use of Botox, collagen and other minor surgical procedures threatens the very individuality of the human face. With our clone towns come clone lifestyles, clone looks and, ultimately, clone emotions.
Fortunately, as with all end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenarios, the enemy has a fatal flaw. From an evolutionary point of view, diversity is the key to success. Clones, as evidenced by poor Dolly the sheep and the entire cast of I, Robot don’t have a very long shelf life. It won’t be long before the buying public rebels; already the growing popularity of farmers’ markets and niche products indicates a subtle change in the wind. So buy now while stocks last — for who knows what the future might hold.