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News > World

Poverty, Inequality, Consumerism: The Sad Conclusions About Nutella's Frenzy in France

  • Videos of French shoppers jostling as they tried to grab heavily discounted tubs of the chocolate spread in Intermarche stores have gone viral over the past week.

    Videos of French shoppers jostling as they tried to grab heavily discounted tubs of the chocolate spread in Intermarche stores have gone viral over the past week. | Photo: Reuters

Published 31 January 2018
Opinion

The Nutella frenzy reveals the elitism of journalists and social media users, as the French working-class can't help but jump on the opportunity to buy products branded as luxury ones by a consumption society since they can't afford it for their children regularly.

Instead of directly tackling the growing poverty and inequality in the country one of the factors which have led to in-store scuffles over cut-price jars of Nutella last week, the French government announced Wednesday it was preparing a bill that will keep supermarkets from offering such promotion deals.

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A few days after the national and international media ridiculed the masses of working-class French consumers who fought over Nutella jars, a few took the time of reflect — and the reality they found was quite ugly.

Some of them like Le Parisien and France Info recalled that in the towns where the frenzies took place, sometimes even requiring the intervention of militarized police, the unemployment rates have reached a national record of between 20 and 30 percent.

According to the latest report issued by the country's National Observatory of Inequality, poor people in France have increased from 950,000 to 1,2 million between 2004 and 2014.

Interviewed by Le Parisien, customers got the opportunity to explain how they overcame the shame of rushing for the promotion by feeling they had a higher purpose: treating their children with an iconic family product.

One of the customers who participated in the Nutella riots, mother of three, explained that the promotion was announced at the end of the month, when most households are struggling to meet both ends.

“At that time, I sometimes have about 20 to 30 euros left. (Nutella) is a 'real' luxury product, just like 'real' Coca (Cola),” she said, as another customer explained that people usually buy cheaper brands “so they can afford meat.”

But the government of former banker executive Emmanuel Macron opted for a different solution, after being heavily criticized in January over economic measures that have reduced taxes for the wealthiest while cutting in social benefits.

Macron's government is preparing to unveil a bill that will tighten rules on supermarket promotions, announced on Wednesday Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire to RTL radio.

The day before, Le Maire urged Intermarche to "stop this kind of promotion", saying that the pushing and shoving seen as customers clamored to get their hands on the Nutella tubs must not become "normalized".

Intermarche sparked the shopping frenzy last Thursday when it slashed the price of a 950-gram pot of Nutella — a favored breakfast spread in France — from US$5.60 to 1.41 euros.

The three-day promotion prompted shoving and even full-blown fights in several stores. Intermarche later formally apologized to customers, while the DGCCRF consumer agency on Monday announced it was launching an investigation into the discounts.

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