French company: the Nutella developer | Slate.com
Reading time: 7 mins
Partner Content - Since mid-January, taking advantage of the sales period, the Intermarché group has launched a promotional operation called "the least expensive four weeks in France". On the program, as Rebecca Pagani recalls: “-70% at Intermarché. Diapers from 23.95 euros to 7.18 and Nutella from 4.50 euros to 1.41 euros”.
The price war
The objectives of the group, whose CEO changed in 2016, were ambitious as underlined by this “reminder of the @intermarché resolutions set out by #ThierryCotillard. @mousquetairesfr”. Namely an increase in turnover and market share and even more to improve the desirability of the brand. Along with new advertising campaigns whose duration is almost three minutes astonishing in a world dominated by the theory of five seconds, this strategy has reignited the price war that had seemed to calm down in recent years.
But “supermarkets are desperate and need to create an event. She will always find a way to adapt to the rule according to Bernard Cova professor @KedgeBS #Nutella #Intermarché or how to provoke a #comdecrise”. And to create the event, we can say that Intermarché hit hard by triggering riots and fights between hysterical consumers to recover the famous products on sale at all costs.
Good or bad idea, the press tries to dissect the calculation of the distribution group. Title challenge: “#Marketing an analysis of #Sales Promotion operations organized by #Intermarché #Nutella #Pampers”. For blogger Pierre Parrillo Intermarché has largely achieved its goal, “#Nutella and #CouchesCulottes: a clever strategy by #Intermarché which, whatever the follow-up given to this affair, will have offered itself an inexpensive and hard-hitting advertising campaign… pure marketing strategy.
The question is whether attracting such attention and creating controversy is really beneficial in terms of image? Many twittos wonder in particular about the relevance of the choice of sale products. "Why don't the stores lower the prices of vegetables and fruit to fifty cents to help people eat well. Why cuts on products that are harmful to health and the planet?
The famous spread has been in the crosshairs of environmental activists for several years because of the palm oil it uses in large quantities and whose crops endanger many animals such as themselves. moves David Vincent: “#NutellaKillsOrangsOutans and other mammals #Intermarché #Nutella #NutellaGate”.
But the real questions are whether this marketing strategy is acceptable and what the riots it sparked reveal about our society. C_Ouam is very critical: “bargain prices: what is Intermarché doing? It's nonsense, synonymous with social damage, we don't win with this type of sales at a loss which confuses everything #Intermarché". Knowing that selling at a loss is prohibited in France, except during sales periods, a verification of the legal framework will be put in place: "promotion on Nutella: the repression of fraud will open an investigation". Lawyers doubt the existence of any crime, because “the Minister of the Economy pretends not to know that resale at a loss has not been repressed for several years because of the EU. When was the last report of the #DGCCRF #nutella #Intermarché”.
As proof, Intermarché has not suspended its operation. "This is not a fake, despite the controversy the #Nutella @Intermarché promo posters at less than 70% are still there #nutellariots". Apart from a few calendar changes, such as in the Loire where the shelving of certain products has been postponed for security reasons (“at #Intermarché, after #NutellaGate the fear of #CoucheGate? #Nutella #pampers #promotion # France2018 #Société”), the monster sales continue.
Some tweeters did not hesitate to challenge Intermarché's competitors: "@CarrefourFrance when will you decide to do real promotions like #Intermarché @Intermarché #pampers #nutella". They were heard... But announced a commercial operation around the jar of spread. “Attention #riot planned tomorrow at #But: but what is going on with #nutella? All means are good to bring the barge. 10,000 pots offered @Goal. #SADWORLD”.
Cynicism, riots and condescension
As Agent 140 coolly summarizes: “I discovered #NutellaGate a bit late. For those who missed it too, I can summarize: people with sometimes limited means are fighting to buy shit at the price of gold, under the haughty gaze of those who think they are above this zero marketing operation.
The images of supermarkets stormed by consumers who come to blows surprised and above all disturbed, as did the testimonials on site. “Riots for #nutella. A store manager in Metz: "People were aggressive, they tried to grab pots and threatened us". An employee: “People were jumping on each other and seemed hungry. I saw a woman with scratches on her arms “Franceinfo”. The sudden appearance on the screens of a France that we do not want to see...
How to understand these images, what meanings to give them? This is the question that agitates Twitter. For some, it is the indicator of a deliquescent society, drugged with blind consumerism: “#NutellaGate the jar of #Nutella is not essential! It's intellectual poverty @ElinaDumont #GGRMC". “No @BrunoLeMaire. When people are rushing and fighting for promotions, it's not just a pay-for-work issue. There is also and above all a problem linked to the civilization of the consumer society #Nutella #Pampers #RTLMatin”.
The comparison is also made with queues to be the first to buy the latest fashionable electronic product. "When a famous apple brand releases a smartphone, it's just as stupid and less excusable because there is no social misery there @Olivier_Truchot #GGRMC".
Many tweeters denounce social contempt and condescension, such as journalist Thomas Vampouille: "when France, which is queuing up for a 1,000-dollar iPhone, doesn't give a damn about the one who does the same for a promo on the #Nutella. Finally a decent treatment of this case by @leparisien”.
Class struggle
The dominant reading on Twitter is not psychological but Marxist of the impoverishment of France from below. As Jean-Luc Mélenchon would say: "when the riot shows misery, the idiot looks at #Nutella". And some point to the diversion expected by politicians: "after #nutella I'm waiting for the walkers who will explain to us that these are crazy people giving in to hyperconsumption and not a sign of growing poverty".
Annoyed buyers also wanted to justify their presence at these promotions: “#Nutella affair. “Crackpots”. "Savages". Insults rain down. Very quickly, some whisper another word: “precariousness”. Laetitia (521euros/month): “I usually only take top budget brands. There I just wanted to please my daughter…”.
The number of French people below the poverty line (below 60% of the median income) is increasing, as is that of the working poor. Some like Alphatique Monder judge that "there are poor people who assume and those who want to be rich by buying branded products while there are sub-brands much better than the #Nutella #Pampers brands". But the Nutella and Pampers riots are also contemporary expressions of a society that frustrates those less able to consume.
Comparisons with countries subject to scarcity and rationing like Venezuela have been proliferating on Twitter. “We saw scenes worthy of Venezuela! Faced with this, we need a legal response! @GWGoldnadel #GGRMC”. A questionable connection. In France, the stores are not empty and it is still not a question of food riots.
Can we also consider that mass distribution is doing for the purchasing power of the French what the State is no longer or not capable of doing? “The three jars of Nutella: 12 euros saved. The package of Pampers nappies is 16 euros in savings, so 28 euros. Competition in the markets for goods and services is a source much more effective and less costly than any state redistribution which impoverishes the sovereign missions”.
Hide this reality
The state could not help but react. We are in France. And the image of Macron's country could suffer. “According to @franceinter, seeing the images of the “Nutella riots”, Macron expressed his fear that “the world is kidding us…”. It is safe for the President of the rich, poverty is shameful. In the middle of the Davos summit, “France wanted to speak to the rich of the planet. And here are his poor who come to recall to his good memory.
This has not escaped the notice of the foreign press. “The #NutellaRiots affair has crossed borders. It is the American channel CNN which recalls that this incident in France is not the first of its kind. For La Repubblica in Italy: “#Nutella supermarket supply, too crowded. The French government is blocking promotions”.
More fundamentally, the images of riots in the Intermarchés feed the criticisms of a France at two speeds and of the President of the rich. The Macronian theory of the first climber takes for his rank as echoed by Coralie Delaume: “Everything is going very well. It's perfect. The magic is starting to work, and the runoff from the first climbers is producing its first effects. A society in very good health, what.
The Minister of the Economy clumsily tried to deflect the controversy: “rush for #Nutella and #Pampers “we also see these scenes in luxury stores” dares Bruno LeMaire”. He also asserted his authority: “#NutellaGate I received the director of Intermarché yesterday. I told him it couldn't happen again. He promised me. Confidence is very good. Control is even better” says @BrunoLeMaire in #RTLMatin with @EliMartichoux”.
As always in France, when there is a problem, there needs to be a law. The government would think about a bill to control or even ban wild sales, in particular to promote productions... and obviously to avoid riots. Immediate reaction from twittos: “We laugh out loud when the government tells you we are going to limit promotions to help producers. Taking the example of #NutellaGate and #Pampers #Intermarché”.
Between the contempt of some, the hysteria of others, moral judgments, cynicism and the desire to legislate, the best response is undoubtedly in humor, as does the actress Frédérique Bel who offers a rational explanation : "the Seine is overflowing, baboons are escaping by the dozen from the zoo of Vincennes, rats are invading Paris, supermarkets are being robbed for Nutella, and it doesn't stop raining... Who is the idiot who started a game? of Jumanji?????».
