With racism becoming a topic for much discussion in the news of late, one store has decided to confront the problem in a controversial way.
A supermarket in Germany made a very ‘creative’ point by removing all foreign products from its shelves.
The Edeka supermarket in Hamburg said it wanted to confront racism by portraying what a narrow-minded store would look like – selling nothing but German products.
Messages such as ‘This shelf is quite boring without variety’ were placed around the store.
The salad bar had a sign reading:
Our selection knows borders today.
While the cheese counter read:
So empty is a shelf without foreigners.
The infamous cheese counter we all know and love had no Spanish tomatoes and no Greek olives!
An Edeka spokesman said:
Edeka stands for diversity and we produce a wide range of food in our assortment, which is produced in the different regions of Germany.
But it is together with products from other countries that we create the unique diversity that our customers value.
We are delighted to have received a lot of positive feedback regarding Saturday’s action.
Edeka are certianly no strangers to advertising campaigns going viral, especially some which cause controversy.
The store had an ‘Eatkarus’ campaign last year, telling the story of a fantasy world where everyone ate the same food, all the time – an unidentified grey mash.
In the advert, the family’s son dreams about flying away like a bird – the name Eatkarus is a play on words with Icarus – referring to the ancient Greek myth where a man flies using wings made of feathers and wax, only to see them melt when he flies too close to the sun.
However at the end of the Edeka commercial the young boy reaches his great goal because he turns his diet around after finding some real berries in nature after following a bird.
The supermarket chain provide more than just a message on the importance of a healthy diet – on a separate campaign page they’ve provided recipe videos, diet tips and even a BMI calculator – take note Tesco and co.
The well meant approach helping to combat growing obesity and unhealthy eating habits earned the campaign much praise, but some slammed it for its supposed ridiculing of fat people.
Edeka also had a Christmas commercial which pulled on the heart strings of viewers – it sounds worse than the John Lewis ads we’re used to!
It featured a grandfather eating his Christmas dinner alone as his children were too busy to come and visit.
The grandfather then fakes his own death and after his shocked children manage to find the time to visit, they find a dining room table full of food waiting for them.
Luckily, their elderly father is alive as ever – sounds full of the Christmas spirit eh!
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Can’t wait to see what they go viral with next…
