On a grey Tuesday morning in October, the kind where your breath fogs up the inside of the bus window, a handwritten sign appeared in the local Lidl: “COMING SOON – ENERGY‑SAVING HEATING GADGET – MARTIN LEWIS APPROVED.”
People actually stopped their trolleys to stare. One woman in a school-run coat pulled out her phone, snapping a photo and sending it straight to the family WhatsApp with the words, “Worth it?”
Around her, you could feel a weird mix of relief and suspicion. Relief, because if Martin Lewis recommends it, maybe the winter won’t feel quite so brutal. Suspicion, because the same celebrity trust that helped us dodge rip-off bills now sat on a supermarket promo board, right next to the discounted biscuits.
That’s where the mood shifted.
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The Lidl move taps into something raw. Over the past two winters, millions have sat in chilly living rooms, wrapped in blankets, scrolling through Martin Lewis clips for survival tips. He became the calm, urgent voice explaining standing charges and boiler settings when everything else felt frightening.
So when shoppers walk into Lidl and see his name quietly attached to a winter gadget, it hits deeper than a normal ad. It feels almost personal.
People don’t just see a heater or airer. They see a lifeline with a famous face stamped on the box.
In one South London branch, a store worker told me three different customers asked the same question within an hour: “Is this really that thing Martin Lewis was talking about?” Not “What’s the wattage?” or “How much is it to run?”, but “Is it his one?”
That’s the power of trust in 2024. For years, Lewis has repeated, almost painfully, that he doesn’t take commission on products he recommends, that he’s allergic to being turned into an ad. Then along comes a big, bright Lidl middle-aisle promo, cashing in on the phrase “Martin Lewis approved” like it’s a sticker of certification.
You can almost hear people thinking: *Wait, when did he become a marketing slogan?*
The backlash brewing online isn’t really about a single radiator, air fryer or heated clothes horse. It’s about the line between advice and sales getting smudged. People remember PPI, payday loans, all the financial “solutions” that turned into traps, and they are wary of going through that cycle again with energy gadgets.
The logic is simple. When advice is clearly separate, you can weigh it up. When it’s standing under fluorescent lights in aisle three, wrapped in promo cardboard, something shifts. The emotional safety net of “he’s on our side” starts to look uncomfortably like a brand asset.
Let’s be honest: nobody really reads the fine print on a cardboard promo board.
How to decode a “celebrity-approved” winter gadget
There is a simple, boring way to cut through the noise, and it starts before you even pick up the box. Ask one question: “Where did the recommendation actually come from?” If Martin Lewis mentioned a type of gadget on his show or site, that’s not the same as approving the exact model piled high in Lidl.
Pull out your phone, type the product type and “MoneySavingExpert” or “Martin Lewis” and look for the original context. Was he talking about a generic heated airer at around 200–300 watts, or this specific one with its own price and size?
Small detail, massive difference for your bill.
Next, go old-school: look at the label. Check the wattage, then roughly calculate running costs. A quick rule of thumb many energy experts use is: cost per kilowatt-hour x kilowatts x hours. If the gadget uses 300W (0.3kW) and your tariff is, say, 28p per kWh, running it for three hours is 0.3 x 0.28 x 3 ≈ 25p.
Then compare that to what you currently do. Are you heating the whole house for the sake of one room? Are you tumble-drying towels every other day? The new gadget only “saves money” if it replaces a more wasteful habit, not if it just joins the queue of things plugged in at the same time.
We’ve all been there, that moment when a “money-saving” buy turns into one more thing gathering dust in the hallway.
The emotional trap with these promotions is subtle. When you’re cold and worried about bills, your brain isn’t calmly assessing figures; it’s reaching for reassurance. That’s why the phrase **“approved”** feels so powerful, and so dangerous. It blurs the edges of responsibility.
One consumer campaigner I spoke to put it bluntly:
“Brands love to sit in the glow of someone else’s integrity. The risk is, shoppers assume that glow stretches to every product on the shelf, when it often doesn’t.”
To stay grounded, you can mentally box off each step:
- Separate the person (Martin Lewis) from the product (Lidl’s specific gadget).
- Check wattage, price and running cost before you think about “approval”.
- Ask yourself: “What am I replacing with this?” If the answer is “nothing”, it’s not a saving.
- Look for independent reviews, not just social clips and store posters.
- Walk away, do the maths at home, come back if it still makes sense.
Trust, bills and the quiet resentment in the middle aisle
Behind the Twitter threads and Facebook rants, there’s a quieter feeling that doesn’t always get said out loud. It’s the sense of being squeezed from every angle, then being gently nudged to buy your way out of the squeeze. One more gadget. One more fix. One more “hack”.
When Lidl leans on Martin Lewis’ reputation, even indirectly, that frustration spills over. People aren’t just angry at the supermarket. They’re scared that the last few public figures who still feel “on our side” might be swallowed by the same corporate logic that gave us Black Friday “deals” on products we never needed.
*The fear isn’t that Lewis has sold out; it’s that the system will twist his advice into a sales channel whether he likes it or not.*
| Key point | Detail | Value for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| Separate advice from ads | Check where the “Martin Lewis” mention actually comes from and read the original source | Protects you from being nudged into buying on trust alone |
| Do the wattage maths | Look at power usage, your tariff and how many hours you’ll realistically run the gadget | Shows whether the product will genuinely cut bills or just add costs |
| Focus on habits, not hype | Use gadgets to replace expensive routines, not to pile onto them | Turns “clever buys” into real savings instead of clutter |
FAQ:
- Question 1Is Martin Lewis officially working with Lidl on this winter gadget?
- Question 2Does “Martin Lewis approved” mean the exact product is endorsed?
- Question 3Are these Lidl winter gadgets actually cheaper to run than central heating?
- Question 4How can I quickly check if a heating gadget will save me money?
- Question 5What should I do if I already bought one and now feel misled?
