The image of a rotten orange along with the slogan “the markets are dying” appeared this week on the street furniture of Barcelona and other cities such as Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville and Zaragoza. It is an advertising campaign promoted by the NGO Food Justice to raise awareness about “a local, fair and green public food service”, but the advertisement has caused great rejection among merchants. Through a statement, the confederation of traditional food markets of Spain (METRAE) has requested its “immediate withdrawal.” The “pessimistic” speech about its future “is neither true nor helps us,” said Asier Beato Iglesias, president of the confederation.
“This campaign, far from adding to the markets, seriously harms them,” says Iglesias, who at the same time puts “at risk” the jobs of almost half a million people who work in municipal markets. The confederation also points out that no representative of the NGO Food Justice contacted them before launching the campaign to find out their concerns.
On its website, Food Justice published a report titled Claim your market! Decline and plunder of municipal markets. “We have chosen the city of Barcelona because we believe it illustrates well the dynamics that have been taking place, but the fundamentals are perfectly applicable to the rest of the cities,” explains the report. The campaign has the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain and the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030.
“For years – according to the report – municipal markets have been experiencing a decline that cannot be hidden by the renovations that have been made to the buildings, the installation of supermarkets inside them, or the conversion into gourmet markets.”
In Valencia, the Popular Party opposed the initiative and also requested that it be immediately removed from public roads. “We are not going to consent to a campaign that seriously damages the image of the orange and therefore the agricultural sector of the Valencian Community,” they published on their X account. To which the director of Food Justice, Javier Guzmán, responded: “Front “To the attacks and attempts at censorship by the PP of Valencia, we reiterate that at Food Justice we have a firm commitment to the defense of local agriculture and the revitalization of markets.”
From its official account, the NGO also responded to the Popular Party. “We are concerned, and we regret, the undemocratic (and censorship) proposal of the Valencian PP.” In addition, they clarified that the orange is simply the resource of one of the campaign’s advertisements.
