Analysis of: UK supermarkets go all out for ‘Jab-uary’ with food for those on weight-loss drugs
The Guardian | January 17, 2026
British supermarkets' rush to capitalize on weight-loss injection drugs reveals a telling moment in late capitalism: the pharmaceutical industry creates expensive medications accessible primarily to wealthier consumers, and the retail sector immediately develops premium-priced food products to extract additional profit from this captive market. The 'Jab-uary' phenomenon exposes how capital transforms even reduced consumption into a profit opportunity, with retailers charging up to 35% more per gram for smaller 'GLP-1 friendly' portions compared to their standard diet ranges. The class dimensions are stark. With GLP-1 drugs costing hundreds of pounds monthly when purchased privately, the market analyst quoted explicitly notes that M&S's premium £7 ready meals will succeed because their 'user base are among the minority of Brits who can afford to pay for these drugs privately.' Meanwhile, working-class consumers face the same food price inflation that has driven sausage roll prices up 30% since 2022, with overall food volumes actually declining 0.2% even as prices rose 2.5%—a clear indicator of household budgets under strain. This phenomenon also illustrates capital's remarkable adaptability in crisis. Facing the threat of reduced consumer spending—the Cornell study showing GLP-1 households cut grocery spending by 5-8%—supermarkets have reframed smaller portions as premium products rather than accepting lower revenues. The same shrinkflation that has provoked consumer anger becomes, when rebranded for wealthy dieters, a virtue worth paying extra for. The contradiction between consumer interests and profit maximization resolves, as it typically does under capitalism, in favor of capital.
Class Dynamics
Actors: Supermarket corporations (M&S, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Ocado, Co-op, Asda), Pharmaceutical companies producing GLP-1 drugs, Working-class consumers facing food price inflation, Affluent consumers able to afford private prescriptions, Food industry executives (CEOs quoted throughout), Market research analysts serving capital, Fast-food chains (Greggs) and hospitality sector
Beneficiaries: Supermarket shareholders extracting premium prices for smaller portions, Pharmaceutical companies creating new consumer segments, Market research firms generating insights for corporate strategy, Premium retailers like M&S targeting affluent demographics
Harmed Parties: Working-class consumers excluded from both medications and premium food ranges, All consumers subjected to ongoing shrinkflation, Food service workers potentially facing reduced hours as consumption falls, Those with eating disorders or body image issues facing intensified diet culture
The power dynamic flows clearly from capital to consumer. Pharmaceutical companies create the medical condition of 'needing' GLP-1-specific foods, supermarkets respond by extracting premium prices, and consumers—particularly working-class ones—have no meaningful input into these market transformations. The executives quoted throughout the article (Murphy, Roberts, Currie) are presented as neutral observers of 'trends' rather than active shapers of market conditions. Consumer resistance, such as anger over shrinkflation, is acknowledged only as a marketing problem to be managed through clever branding that avoids 'GLP-1' labels.
Material Conditions
Economic Factors: Food price inflation of 30%+ since 2022, Declining food volumes despite rising sales values, GLP-1 drugs costing hundreds monthly, accessible mainly to affluent consumers, 35% price premium per gram on 'GLP-1 friendly' products, £250 billion annual UK grocery market under competitive pressure, 5-8% reduction in grocery spending among GLP-1 user households
The production relations reveal classic capitalist dynamics: pharmaceutical companies produce medications with massive markups, accessible primarily to those with disposable income. Supermarkets, facing potential profit loss from reduced consumption, respond not by lowering prices but by creating new premium product categories. The labor required to produce these smaller portions is not meaningfully different, yet the exchange value is higher. Food industry workers—from processing plants to retail floors—remain invisible in the discourse, which focuses entirely on consumption and corporate strategy.
Resources at Stake: Share of the £250 billion UK grocery market, Consumer spending redirected from quantity to 'premium' products, Market position in emerging 'weight management' category, Brand equity and customer loyalty among affluent demographics
Historical Context
Precedents: Diet industry commodification (Weight Watchers, SlimFast), Shrinkflation as profit extraction during inflationary periods, Medicalization of body weight creating pharmaceutical markets, Premium organic/health food markets targeting affluent consumers, Post-2008 intensification of price segmentation strategies
This represents a mature phase of neoliberal capitalism where even reduced consumption is converted into profit opportunity through market segmentation and premium pricing. It echoes historical patterns of capital creating new needs (here, GLP-1-specific foods) from pharmaceutical interventions, similar to how the vitamin supplement industry emerged in the 20th century. The explicit class targeting—M&S for the wealthy, budget ranges for others—reflects the intensification of market segmentation that has characterized retail since the 1980s, now applied to the most basic necessity: food.
Contradictions
Primary: The fundamental contradiction between use-value and exchange-value: consumers need less food while taking these drugs, yet capital requires continued or increased spending. Supermarkets resolve this by charging more for less, but this creates tension with consumer interests and expectations.
Secondary: Shrinkflation anger versus 'premium small portions' marketing—the same practice reframed for different class segments, Health discourse versus profit motive—smaller portions are healthier but only valuable if they maintain profit margins, Democratizing health claims versus class-exclusive access to both drugs and premium foods, Individual consumer 'choice' ideology versus systemically structured access based on income
Short-term, capital will likely succeed in extracting premium prices from affluent consumers while working-class shoppers simply eat less due to inflation. However, if NHS prescribing of GLP-1 drugs expands significantly, the premium positioning may become untenable as the user base diversifies economically. The contradiction between health benefits of reduced consumption and retail profit requirements cannot be permanently resolved under capitalism—one must ultimately subordinate to the other, and typically profit wins. Consumer resistance may emerge if the premium pricing becomes too visible or if economic conditions worsen.
Global Interconnections
This story connects to global dynamics of pharmaceutical capitalism, where medications developed with public research funding become privatized profit centers accessible primarily to wealthy nations and individuals within them. The 20% GLP-1 usage rate in the US versus 6% in the UK reflects differential healthcare systems but also American capital's more advanced commodification of weight management. The phenomenon also intersects with global food system dynamics: as wealthy consumers in the Global North eat less, this may affect commodity prices and agricultural production, with implications for food security elsewhere. More broadly, this illustrates how capitalism transforms every aspect of human existence—including the attempt to eat less—into a market opportunity. The creation of 'GLP-1 friendly' as a product category demonstrates capital's infinite capacity for market segmentation and extraction. It also reveals the healthcare-retail-pharmaceutical complex as an integrated system serving capital accumulation rather than human wellbeing.
Conclusion
The 'Jab-uary' phenomenon reveals capitalism's remarkable capacity to profit from contradiction—even when people consume less, capital finds ways to extract more. For working-class consumers, this manifests as a double bind: priced out of the medications and their associated premium foods, they experience only the negative side of food inflation. The class implications are clear but the potential for resistance remains underdeveloped. Consumer awareness of shrinkflation shows some critical consciousness emerging, but absent organized pressure, capital will continue to segment markets and extract premiums. The real question is whether this pharmaceutical-retail nexus will face collective challenge, or whether individualized 'consumer choice' ideology will continue to fragment potential solidarity among those harmed by these dynamics.
Editorial Note: This analysis applies a dialectical materialist framework to news events. It represents one interpretive perspective and should not be considered objective reporting.
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