A recent advertisement in the media offering an express line to pay your supermarket bill, implying that a woman would rather spend time in her kitchen than stand in line to pay for groceries, has caused an uproar among the women of Colombo. Whether this express line really does work is something I would like to see since my experiences at the check-out counters in the Colombo supermarkets are painstakingly slow and it would irritate the most patient. I can never understand the need for the checkout staff to check the price marked on the item once it has been scanned. Is it not a given that the scan would carry the same price as that marked on the item. Go figure. 

Be that as it may. The referenced advertisement is probably aimed at working mothers who have to shop at the supermarket and dash off home to prepare a meal and feed the brood and attend to other daily chores that need to be completed by the end of the day. The knowledge of the existence of an express lane surely would make their day. 

The Colombo socialites were gobsmacked with this advertisement since they certainly do not believe that the kitchen is a place for them. They hate to be associated with getting their hands dirty by turning out dishes and would prefer to be known for having domestic aides doing the job for them, most of whom are overworked and employed for a miserly wage. 

The Colombo elitist want us mere mortals to believe that they do not know what a kitchen looks like leave alone a supermarket. When they are spotted checking out the bargains and cheaper products available at the supermarkets, you are acknowledged with a sheepish grin. To them, it is only correct that they express their distaste for the advertisement since they only have time to spend at the yoga, pilates or some other trending exercise class. The fancy lunches in the afternoons, the high teas in the early evenings and some function in the late evenings require time spent in the beauty parlour and, therefore, how on earth would they know anything about being in line at the supermarket or turning out a meal for the family. The offensive advertisement is, therefore, definitely not targeted at the Colombo socialites but the hardworking women in Colombo who have to juggle their time between office and home, is what they want to believe. 

The slogan used in the advertisement is a direct copy of an advertisement run in the sixties. It must have worked then for it to be used again in 2017. However, the mistake, it would seem, is running the advertisement in a media that all have access to rather than limiting it to a media that only working women have access to. A reminder of domestic drudgery does not sit well with them. 

What the high and mighty in Colombo want us to believe is that at most times the food they partake in appear from heaven and all they need to do is enjoy it and go on their way; in the night they slip into their beds and have a good sleep, only to awaken the next morning and find breakfast laid out on the table awaiting them. All of this prepared by Edesia, the Roman Goddess of Feasting.