Black Supermarket (Le Marché Interdit)
Carrefour2017
Black Supermarket (Le Marché Interdit) is a 2017 in-store activation and petition for Carrefour, created by Marcel, Paris.
Why it works
A supermarket chain that staged its own black market. In September 2017 Carrefour opened 'forbidden markets' in French stores, selling fruit and vegetables grown from farmers' seed varieties that are missing from the official catalogue and so cannot be marketed as seed. The growers were given five-year supply contracts, and shoppers were asked to buy the produce and sign a Change.org petition to change the rules. Strictly, the vegetables themselves were legal to sell (French press were quick to note that only the seeds were restricted), but the outlaw framing turned a dry regulatory dispute into a story. According to the award entry, the petition passed 85,000 signatures, and in April 2018 the European Parliament adopted an organic regulation that the brand says reopened the market for such seeds. It took four Gold, seven Silver and three Bronze Lions at Cannes 2018, the Eurobest Brand Experience Grand Prix, and the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix in 2019.
Techniques
- Purpose and cause Backs farmers' seed varieties missing from the official catalogue with supply contracts and a petition to change the rules.
- Participation Asks shoppers to buy the produce and sign a petition, so every basket doubles as a vote to change the rules.
- Card stacking Frames legal vegetables as forbidden goods, leaving out that only the seeds are restricted, to make a dry regulatory dispute feel like an outlaw story.
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