If Kamala Harris hates “price gouging” as much as she says, then why did she make a public spectacle of her buying a bag of Doritos at a convenience store?
On Friday, Vice President Harris denounced so-called ‘price gouging” while outlining her presidential campaign platform, ABC News reports:
“Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday proposed a ban on ‘price gouging’ by food suppliers and grocery stores, as part of a broader agenda aimed at lowering the cost of housing, medicine, and food.”
But, the very next day, she staged a video shoot of her buying a bag of Doritos at a Sheetz convenience store while on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. The campaign reportedly shot two different versions of her searching for, then being handed, a bag of Doritos.
So, given that convenience stores are infamous for price gouging, why did Harris publicize her patronage of a large, national convenience store chain?
“There are over 400 made-to-order items available at Sheetz, and maybe 5% of them are worth your time,” a food review of the Sheetz chain in The Takeout warns – citing potato chips as a prime example:
“If you want a crispy, salty snack, you need to head in a different direction. Namely, potato chips.”
What’s more, why did Kamala buy Doritos – a brand singled out and condemned by President Joe Biden for its pricing tactics?
Earlier this year, Biden put out a video that highlighted Doritos as a perpetrator of a deceptive form of price gouging he dubbed “shrinkflation,” in which the price of a bag of chips remains the same price, but the number of chips in the bag is reduced. As Biden calls out companies for shrinkflation in the video, a bag of Doritos is featured prominently in the background Biden.
NEW: The Harris campaign appears to have been caught scripting two different Doritos handoffs to Kamala Harris at a Pennsylvania, Sheetz.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 19, 2024
The first one was her husband “finding” Doritos.
The second handoff was Tim Walz, “finding” another bag of Doritos that he handed to the… pic.twitter.com/zguAh0zxrC
Harris’ plan to ban price gouging would be enforced by fining those who charge more than what she considers to be fair.
“The proposal calling for a ban on grocery price gouging is a solution in search of a problem,” the National Grocers Association said, reacting to Harris’ plan:
“Our independent grocers, already operating on extremely thin margins, are hurting from the same inflationary pressure points as their customers. Labor, rent, swipe fees, utilities; you name it, the price has increased.”
Food retailer profit margins have been declining in recent years, dropping to just 1.6% in 2023.