Whether you are at the supermarket checkout or on the 18th green, loyalty is dead

A couple of years ago a bookmaker ran an advertising campaign with the tagline: “Loyalty is dead. Live for rewards”. The face of the promotion was Rhodri Giggs, whose wife Natasha had carried on an affair with Rhodri’s brother, Ryan, the former Manchester United star, for eight years. Eventually Natasha sold her story to a newspaper. Now Rhodri was cashing in. The moral high ground was an unconsidered space.

The Paddy Power copywriters have made some calamitous and egregious errors of judgment over the years, but every so often they strike a chord. Their new offering to punters was from the same family as supermarket points: it made you feel like you were getting something back, even as they sucked the blood from your veins. Your loyalty was just another transaction.