The Prodimarques association, which represents over 70 companies that produce SKUs sold in French hypermarkets, has launched a complaint against Lidl France because of what it views as an unfair price-comparison TV advert.
In a statement, Prodimarques said, “The latest advertising campaign of Lidl does not respect the rules and conditions of comparative advertising.”
In the advert, a man decides that private-label Lidl products are better than more expensive, branded counterparts, such as the Mondeléz-owned coffee brand Café Grand’Mère.
“The test was carried out on the simple judgement of ‘I like ... ’,” stated Prodimarques. “It features actors and a fictional test without any objective criteria of comparison or proper analysis, which leads one to think that the products are inherently better than products that retail at different price points.”
The matter is to be settled by the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
