WEEKEND INSPIRATION | INGLORIOUS FRUIT & VEGETABLES

YEARS ago at the Melbourne Film Festival, I watched The Gleaners and I by the French documentary film maker, Agnes Varda. It's subject - the modern day urban gleaner, those that frequent markets and fields post-harvest to glean, scavage and hunt for rejected produce. It is an extraordinary film, haunting in its expose of the extraordinary waste that characterises our food industries. The award winning campaign by Intermarché reminded me of the mountains of potatoes in Varda's film - discarded and left to rot for being misshapened. 

Over 300 million tons of food is wasted each year across the EU. As France's third largest supermarket, Intermarché’ promoted imperfect fruit and vegetables, selling it at a 30% discount, as a part of the 2014 EU's Year Against Food Waste campaign. (Supermarkets generally reject misshaped fruit and vegetables, only accepting produces that fits a standardised norm.) Inglorious fruits & vegetables were given their own aisle, promoted across multiple marketing channels from print, billboards, TV, radio, as well as Intermarché’s catalogues and social media platforms. The supermarket also created soups and fruit juices using misshaped produce to demonstrate its flavour. The campaign was designed with ad agency Marcel Who and photographer, Patric de Villiers. 

Back on the radar as the winner in the graphics category for Design of the Year 2015 from London’s Design Museum, what we want to know is when are British supermarkets going to follow suit?  No not does this campaign address food equality - who is able to access good food, but it supports our local farmers. 

You can view the Intermarché and Marcel Who’s film about its Inglorious fruits & vegetables.