ABOUT

Carrefour launched the Black Supermarket, a campaign that defies the law to change the law.Illegal BlackSupermarkets were created in Carrefour’s stores nationally to sell illegal varieties of cereals, vegetables, and fruits. We asked people to join the cause by buying the illegal products in our stores and by signing our petition on Change(.)org to change the law. Print, outdoor, web films and our instore BlackSupermarket installations revealed the absurdity of the law, and turned our illegal producers into national heroes. Against the law, we signed a 5-year supply contract with them, and invited key opinion leaders to witness the signature. Against powerful lobbies, we chose the illegal path to make sure we’d be heard by key opinion leaders, the public, and politicians up to Brussels where decisions are made. It was the first time a retailer broke the law to make it change.

We prelaunched the BlackSupermarket on September 19th, with an « illegal dinner », inviting KOLs, to focus The National Food Forum’s debate on farmers’ seeds.On September 20th, our illegal BlackSupermarkets opened in our stores nationally. We enabled people to buy and taste these deliciously illegal varieties, discover they’re richer in nutrients, taste, and better for the environment. With our BlackSupermarkets installations, we made every effort to reveal the absurdity of the law and show the superiority of these products to prompt the desired consumer reaction: buy the products and sign our petition. We staged 600 forbidden varieties in huge herbariums. We showed the faces of our illegal producers sued by lobbies. Black staging emphasized these magnificent products never tasted before by the public. Meanwhile, our web film revealed the issue to all, and our producers lent their voice on as many media as possible, asking to sign the petition.

People were baffled to discover the issue. When presented with a choice, they overwhelmingly chose farmers’ varieties over regular ones. We sold 70 tons (our maximum, due to scarce illegal supply). It drove instore traffic by 15% and the entire produce section benefited as sales grew by 10%. Consumers’ mobilization went well beyond our stores as they signed the petition en masse (+ 85000 signatures). The idea hacked the conversation on the French National Food Forum and generated a national debate, with 300M media impressions (69% online, driving to our petition). Thanks to public mobilization, on April 19th 2018, the European Parliament ratified a new regulation on organic agriculture reauthorizing sale and cultivation of farmers’ seeds.