2024-01-20 16:42:58
“I loved Knorr”, “before Magnum it meant big” or even the Carte d’Or ice creams which “don’t go with the back of the spoon”… The giant of agri-food and Unilever hygiene products (Knorr, Amora, Ax or Carte d’Or brands) has summoned for interim relief Intermarché for a poster campaign deemed denigrating. “We received a surprising subpoena from Unilever,” reacted the third French food distributor, confirming information from The Informed.
Intermarché, noting that the approach “is part, from a timetable point of view, in the home stretch of commercial negotiations”, says it can “imagine that this is a very clumsy attempt at destabilization”.
Diverted slogans
Unilever contests a communication campaign by Mousquetaires/Intermarché, which had diverted slogans associated with some of the brands in its portfolio to criticize excessively high price requests, or cases of “reduflation” or “shrinkflation”when product quantities are reduced for an unchanged or even higher price.
The company listed on the London Stock Exchange has brought in court commissioners in recent days to “summon several Intermarché stores to stop these displays deemed to be denigrating,” sector specialist Olivier Dauvers reported earlier Thursday on his site “Le Consumer Web”.
“We denounce the practice of shrinkflation”
The skirmish comes as supermarkets hold negotiations with their agro-industrial suppliers on the conditions of sale (purchase price, shelf space, promotional calendar, etc.) of a large proportion of products sold in supermarkets. Coincidentally with the calendar, the summary hearing was set by the The Commercial Court on January 31, according to Intermarché, that is to say the last day of these commercial negotiations.
“We denounce the practice of shrinkflation for several weeks now, well before the start of the current negotiations,” commented Intermarché, which said it hopes “that this type of campaign will allow the manufacturers concerned to demonstrate greater transparency and moderation.” A few months ago, Intermarché had already criticized the manufacturer of Petit Marseillais soap for being “fada”, or frozen foods I’m sorry to throw a “cold chill” with price requests deemed unreasonable.
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