The "hard times" meme for the ages

I reckon I must have been a teenager when I first saw some current affairs show or other featuring a pensioner opening a can of dog food to chow down on because he couldn't afford "real" food.  And here we are, 40 years later with this crap again:

It's always annoyed me, because it's so obviously a case of either:

a.    pure media stunt; or

b.    a really stupid person who refuses to buy cheaper human food if their first preference is (usually temporarily) more expensive.